Nik Aziz defends Zaid, calls Umno’s attacks childish

Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat made a last ditch attempt to salvage Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) Hulu Selangor campaign tonight, slamming the attacks on Datuk Zaid Ibrahim’s drinking past as “childish”.

The Pakatan Rakyat candidate is facing a blistering campaign from rivals Umno over his “un-Islamic” drinking past but Nik Aziz (picture), who Islamic credentials are well-respected, chose to back the former law minister ahead of Sunday’s polls.

“Itu kerja bodoh (it is a stupid thing to do),” said the charismatic Kelantan Mentri Besar to a packed press conference here.

“He is a candidate of a party so you attack the party and not the candidate. It is childish,” blasted Nik Aziz

The ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) federal government is said to be leading the race for the parliamentary seat due to several factors including the effective smear campaign used by Umno.

In recent days, Umno and BN have stepped up their campaign with even Datuk Seri Najib Razak hitting the hustings.

On the stump, the prime minister and Umno president has made uncharacteristically aggressive attacks against PR, by calling Zaid a “Cabinet reject” and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim a two-faced politician.

Umno’s aggressive attacks on Zaid’s character by dredging up his past drinking habit and ownership of race horses have also caused PR to go on the defensive.

DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang had also admitted that PR was trailing its rivals and have sounded the alarm in a desperate attempt to scrape a much needed victory.

Umno leaders had also dug the brittle relation Zaid had with PAS in the past when the former had sued the Terengganu government over attempt to enact the hudud law. Terengganu was under PAS at the time.

PR hopes to capitalise on the holy image of Nik Aziz to cast away doubts over Zaid’s Islamic credentials in the final stretch of the 8-day long campaigning trail.

Aware of BN’s attempt to drive a wedge between PR over the drinking issue, Nik Aziz, just like his fellow PR leaders, moved quickly to contain the damage by reassuring PAS’ support for Zaid and PKR.

“We have no problems being with PR. The Chinese and Malays all support me,” he said after explaining that all man are created equal in Islam.

“There is no racism in Islam,” he added.

Zaid, who was present at the press conference, said he had always look up to the PAS leader and express appreciation for his support.

“He called me almost twice a day everyday when he was in Mecca. He told me to be patient, patient, patient,” said the former Umno man.

Both BN and PR have less than 48 hours to campaign for the crucial by-election.

It is generally agreed that the outcome is a verdict, either support for the Najib administration or a continuous and expanding influence for PR.