KL campaigns close amid more accusations<\/p>\n
KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and
\nhis underdog rivals swapped fresh accusations on Sunday on the
\neve of snap polls after an eight-day campaign that the opposition
\ncalled the dirtiest in Malaysia's history.<\/p>\n
Mahathir, ending a nationwide tour in his home state of Kedah,
\nrenewed his attack on the opposition Parti Islam se-Malaysia
\n(PAS), saying its newspaper had published slander.<\/p>\n
\"They hope that by slandering the government leaders and my
\nfamily, the Muslims will reject me, UMNO and Barisan Nasional,\"
\nthe official Bernama news agency quoted him as saying.<\/p>\n
He blamed PAS for causing a split among Muslim Malays.
\nMahathir's United Malays National Organization (UMNO) is the
\ndominant partner in his 14-party Barisan Nasional coalition.
\nMahathir's coalition faces a challenge from the four-party
\nBarisan Alternatif (Alternative Front) opposition in Monday's
\npolls, the country's 10th since independence in 1957 and the most
\nhotly contested in three decades.<\/p>\n
The Barisan Nasional, which held 166 seats in the 192-member
\noutgoing parliament, is expected to retain power.<\/p>\n
But the opposition is trying to capitalise on a split in the
\nMalay majority and deny the ruling coalition a two-thirds
\nmajority for the first time in three decades.<\/p>\n
Mahathir told a news conference it would not be a failure if
\nhis coalition did not win the two thirds.<\/p>\n
\"As long as we win more than 50 percent (of the seats), it is
\nnot a failure,\" he said in the Kedah town of Jitra. \"We say two
\nthirds because our goal for the country is to carry out our
\ndevelopment programs.\"<\/p>\n
The opposition front comprises PAS, the Chinese-based
\nDemocratic Action Party (DAP), Parti Rakyat Malaysia and Parti
\nKeadilan Nasional headed by Azizah Ismail, the wife of jailed
\nformer finance minister Anwar Ibrahim.<\/p>\n
At the end of her campaign trail on Sunday, Azizah resurrected
\nher husband's fall from grace in a final and emotional bid to
\npreserve her husband's political legacy, a task she labeled \"an
\nuphill struggle.\"<\/p>\n
Azizah crisscrossed Permatang Pauh -- Anwar's former
\nconstituency and now her stomping ground for the opposition --
\nand carried the jailed politician's cause into the home state of
\nhis political nemesis, Mahathir.<\/p>\n
With time running out before the general election on Monday,
\nboth the opposition and the government focused on Anwar, the
\nformer deputy prime minister who was sacked and jailed for
\ncorruption and allegations of sodomy.<\/p>\n
\"You cannot trust the TV and newspapers. It's all lies and
\npropaganda,\" Azizah told a crowd of 200 supporters as midnight
\napproached Saturday in a village outside Alor Setar, the capital
\nof Mahahtir's home state, Kedah.<\/p>\n
She dismissed newspaper stories and widespread rumors that she
\nhad sought to divorce Anwar, that he was an abusive husband and
\nthat she was now cheating on the man who is serving six years in
\njail for abuse of power.<\/p>\n
She expressed sadness that her jailed husband had been the
\ncenter of a smear campaign in the run up to the polls and accused
\nthe National Front of using \"immoral and unethical\" tactics to
\nridicule the opposition.<\/p>\n
Opposition alliance spokesman Rustam Sani earlier Sunday said
\na faked photo depicting Anwar dancing with a woman who is not his
\nwife had been circulated, as had thousands of fake copies of the
\nnewspaper of PAS, a key component of the Alternative Front.<\/p>\n
Azizah likened the media attacks to the attack by the then
\npolice chief on her husband when he was arrested last year after
\nleading a mass demonstration against Mahathir.<\/p>\n
\"It is just like the night of his arrest. He was blindfolded
\nand attacked,\" Azizah said.<\/p>\n
Campaigning must officially end at midnight on Sunday. A total
\nof 9.6 million people are on the electoral rolls. DAP leader Lim
\nKit Siang called the campaign the dirtiest ever in the 42 years
\nsince independence.<\/p>\n
Mahathir said Malaysia's \"silent majority\" and party unity
\nwould propel his coalition to a big win in the polls.<\/p>\n
Opposition party workers said on Sunday they had discovered
\nfake copies of PAS's newspaper Harakah. The newspaper carried
\nstories which purportedly quoted PAS and opposition leaders as
\nmaking pro-Mahathir remarks.<\/p>\n
PAS leaders said they had asked police to investigate the
\ndistribution of the newspaper, calling it another dirty trick to
\nsmear the opposition.<\/p>\n
\"This is stooping very low,\" Siti Mariah Mahmud, a leader of
\nthe women's wing of PAS, told reporters. \"This is a desperado act
\nby them and I think it may backfire.\"<\/p>",
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