GE14 | Batu Pahat Wanita Umno chief Haliza Abdullah has responded to allegations by her division chief Puad Zarkashi implying she had "personal moral issues".
Haliza had been implicated in a khalwat (close proximity) case in 2011, after a police report claimed a local imam, with the police, had raided a house in Johor which resulted in the arrest of one man and two women.
Though not mentioning the details of the incident, Haliza told Malaysiakini that whatever occurred was over.
"I don't want to comment because I take it that the matter is over.
"The authorities, those involved, know what happened," she said when met in Senggarang today, adding that nothing happened as a result of the police report.
Puad had made the veiled attack on Haliza following BN's decision to field her instead of him in the Batu Pahat parliament seat.
She said the issue had been used against her in 2013 when she defended her Batu Pahat Wanita Umno chief post, but she still won.
Thus she believes that voters would be wise in the matter.
As for any further potential attacks from Puad (photo), Haliza said she hoped the former Special Affairs Department (Jasa) chief would safeguard both their dignities.
"If Puad says (him contesting) has to do with his dignity as a big leader, then it also involves my dignity as a normal person, as a mother to my four children, as my parents' daughter, as a wife to my current husband, and my former husband.
"I trust Puad knows what he is doing," she said.
She also empathised with Puad, saying she knows how much it hurts to be dropped at the last minute.
She shared how she was slated to contest in Senggarang in 2008 but was dropped just a day before BN named its candidates.
As for Puad's other allegation that BN's candidates in Johor were picked due to cronyism, Haliza said that was not unusual.
"We can't deny that cronyism is everywhere, not just in politics.
"When someone goes up the ladder it must be because someone pushed you,", she said.
However, she says any decisions made on candidates must have been done through a collective decision, and not unilaterally.
