Barisan Nasional (BN) was not behind a controversial election advertisement which denounced the previous government as being 'corrupt and rotten' while praising Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz told the Dewan Rakyat yesterday that 'anonymous sources' were responsible for the advertisement published in Chinese newspapers in the run-up to the March 21 polls.

The full-page advertisement, which featured a BN logo, stated that the government was 'corrupt and rotten to the core... with no aspect of life untainted by corruption'.

It added that along the years, only Abdullah had the tenacity to declare war against corruption and he is just like Justice Bao - a Chinese legendary figure synonymous with justice and integrity.

The advertisement ended with BN pledging to 'defend the people' by ensuring a clean and transparent system of governance.

'Flip-flop' stand

The issue was first raised by Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang last week when debating the motion to thank the royal address.

He questioned the government's stand on corruption in view of the royal address claiming that corruption was not prevalent in the country.

(The royal address, which is read by the Yang d-Pertuan Agong when Parliament comes into a new session, is prepared by the Prime Minister's Department.)

Lim said the 'flip-flop' stand by the government was an attempt to justify its low-keyed action against corruption despite its strong rhetoric earlier.

Brandishing a copy of the advertisement, the opposition leader asked why the government was changing its take on corruption - from prevalent to not prevalent in the royal address.

Talking to the press this morning, Lim urged the police to investigate the "phantom advertisement" as it had cast serious doubts on the legitimacy of the massive victory won BN in the polls

In the dark

In his ministerial winding-up speech yesterday, Nazri said the government's stand on corruption remained the same and he cited the recently launched national integrity plan as an example.

As for the advertisement, he said BN was in the dark over the matter and none of its component parties were involved.

"We are for press freedom. We can't control what is published in the newspapers. The election advertisement was not published upon the instruction of any political party," said the minister, who oversees parliamentary affairs.

Met outside the House later, Nazri told reporters that BN would not investigate who was responsible for the advertisement.

"We have won with a big majority. Why investigate?" he said.

In another development, the minister spurned Lim's call to debate the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) 2003 annual report which was tabled in the House on Monday.

"The report has over 300 pages, I don't believe all the MPs have read the Suhakam report given that our sitting schedule is so tight. No point in debating it if the MPs haven't read it. How to debate it, only you can debate," he told Lim.