BUKIT MERTAJAM, 28 May 2009: Penanti by-election independent candidate Aminah Abdullah has received a letter of demand from Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) over her comments about the party.
The former Wanita PKR chief for Penang said she received the legal notice at 10am today.
“I will now refer the notice to my lawyer for further action,” she said at an impromptu press conference here.
On 25 May, PKR elections director Saifuddin Nasution said that the party’s lawyers would be issuing a legal notice to Aminah to counter her allegations that she was bribed by PKR.
He said the notice would contain “standard demands” – that Aminah withdraw her allegations, apologise or pay damages to the party.
On another matter, Aminah said she was withdrawing from tonight’s open debate organised by watchdog group Malaysians for Free and Fair Elections (Mafrel).
“I had initially agreed to participate, but since so many people are accusing me of using this platform to seek popularity, I have withdrawn my participation,” she said.
Yesterday, Saifuddin said that PKR candidate Dr Mansor Othman would also not be participating in the debate, a move slammed by Mafrel as “kiasu”.
Mafrel said open debates are a democratic way for election candidates to “respect their voters who will be their ‘bosses'”.
When reporters reminded Aminah of Mafrel’s objectives, Aminah said she would hold her own functions to clarify her campaign platform to voters.
Aminah spent the rest of the press conference alleging further abuse of power and corruption by the PKR leadership, and focused on Penang PKR chief Datuk Zahrain Hashim.
However, she did not provide any evidence of the alleged abuses, and admitted that she had not made any official reports to the police or other independent institutions about the fresh allegations. 
