SEREMBAN: Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said has taken a swipe at Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man over calls made by the latter for the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to introduce clear guidelines of what constituted bribery in an election.
The Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) questioned the Pas deputy president on why Perikatan Nasional (PN) failed to introduce the guidelines for reform when the coalition was the federal government.
"They (Pas) were in the (federal) government and the leader of their coalition (PN chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin) was the prime minister at the time. You should ask them why they did not do it then?" she told reporters after visiting the Seremban Court Complex here today.
Azalina, who is also the Umno information chief, was asked to comment on the call made by Tuan Ibrahim for the MACC to come up with a list of "Do's and Don'ts" during the campaigning period for elections.
During a ceramah in Paroi here last night, Tuan Ibrahim said the MACC should remain as an independent institution or risk losing the faith and trust from the people.
He made the call on the heels of a statement by MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki who described the allocation of grants by the federal government to the youth of Terengganu as not illegal or corrupt.
Azam was commenting on the announcement by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on a RM100,000 grant for the Central Development Authority (Ketengah) youth association and RM250,000 for the Terengganu Youth Council.
"What suprises me the most is that they were in the government after the so-called Sheraton Move. There are members of Parliament from their party, who were the ministers in-charge of certain agencies or commissions.
"Suddenly, (he made such a statement) when there is a new government (that is governing the country). I do not know what else to say.
"I suppose what else they can say... Maybe they missed the boat, and now they want to be the government," Azalina, who is the Pengerang member of Parliament, said.