PAS admits picture of candidate with former Kedah Menteri is fake

PAS is investigating how a doctored picture of its candidate, Mohd Azam Abd Samat, was used in a campaign leaflet for the Sungai Limau by-election on Nov 4. The picture was actually a photograph of two senior Sinar Harian journalists with the late Tan Sri Azizan Abdul Razak when he was Kedah menteri besar, which had been altered using Photoshop, by posting Mohd Azam's picture on the face of one of the reporters. PAS operations director for the Sungai Limau by-election campaign Datuk Amiruddin Hamzah said initial investigations revealed the picture was fake and the party would get an explanation from the graphic designer. "We had requested the designer to profile our candidate. After the profile sample was given, we saw and edited the facts and language," he told a media conference at the PAS Sungai Limau by-election headquarters here today. He was commenting on the front page story of Sinar Harian today, on the superimposed picture of the PAS candidate in the party's campaign leaflet. Amiruddin, who is Anak Bukit state assemblyman and Kedah opposition leader, said the party would withdraw the profile containing the picture and a new profile would be issued soon. Asked if the issue had negatively affected PAS' campaign, he said: "We are all humans...the difference is whether we intended to cheat or it was something (done) without our knowledge. Sinar Harian, in its report described the leaflet containing the daily's journalists as a desperate tactic to confuse voters in the Sungai Limau by-election. The report said Sinar Harian was compelled to explain the photograph to avoid misunderstanding or perception that the newspaper was siding with the party. Meanwhile, Sinar Harian (northern edition) bureau chief Mohd Idros Mohd Ali, who was one of the two journalists in the photograph, said it was important the daily protect its credibility as a neutral party. The Sungai Limau by-election is a straight fight between Mohd Azam and Barisan Nasional's Dr Ahmad Sohaimi Lazim.