Normala's hubby to be probed on sick leave abuse

Allegations that Maarof Abd Mutalib, the husband of the PAS candidate for Tenang, has been abusing medical leave to "campaign" with wife Normala Sudirman will be investigated by the education ministry.

Education Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin confirmed this afternoon that the administrative section of the Johor Education Department would carry out the investigation against the school teacher.

"It's not that we are targeting him because his wife is the PAS candidate. If he wants to accompany and support his wife, that is his right.

“But don’t use sick leave when you are not sick. That is already a sign of abuse,” said Muhyiddin, adding that action could be taken against Maarof if the allegations turned out to be true.

Claims surfacing on Umno blogs and Utusan Malaysia news reports have accused Maarof of taking a total of 21 days of medical leave, with the blogs saying that he gave “depression” as the reason.

Maarof has often been seen making the rounds with Normala, although he does speak for her. He had previously explained that he was merely “accompanying and escorting her”, not campaigning for her.

“As an educator, he should be honest and not abuse his right to medical leave by giving false statements. In this case, by using the opportunity to help his wife on the pretext that he is sick.

“Although the medical leave he had asked for is not that long, maybe the state education director can investigate the basis for it. We have to see if he is really sick,” Muhyiddin said at a get-together with the SMK Kamarul Ariffin parent-teacher association in Labis.

However, despite the promise to investigate, the position Muhyiddin took has caused some people to believe that he has already made up his mind on the matter.

“When someone is sick, he or she will usually be immobile, but we see (Maarof) standing tall, even wading through floodwaters with his wife.

“I’ll leave it to the voters to judge whether this is dignified behaviour... I’ll leave it to the state department to investigate whether he has abused the public service general orders. We will probably also get a statement from the headmaster,” he said.

Normala evasive

Normala was also a school teacher, until she resigned to become the PAS candidate.

Maarof has previously had a run-in with the state education department, when it gave him a 24-hour notice transfering him out of Tenang to Johor Bahru, mjore than two hours' drive away, when speculation became rife that Normala would be picked to run against the BN.

When met by reporters later, Normala was evasive about the issue and refused to reveal the nature of her husband’s illness.

“It is better that you talk to the doctor who gave the medical certificate. Its more professional that way. (Ask) why the certificate was issued,” she said.

When asked why her husband was tagging along in the campaign trial when he was ill, Normala said that he was not bedridden.

“The word 'sakit (illness)' does not mean he is bedridden. I consider that the matter has been explained by the party... At this point, (my husband) is okay. He is emotionally stable,” she said.

‘Everyone should accept Interlok’

On the row over the novel ‘Interlok’, Muhyiddin said he hoped his decision yesterday to retain controversial textbook in the study of Malay literature by Form 5 students, albeit with some editing, would be well-received by all quarters.

“I thank the National Writers Association (Gapena) and the national laureate for understanding my decision and statements,” he said, adding that this was a rational move to iron out the confusion over the content of the novel.

He also said that the panel members for the work on ‘Interlok’ would be named shortly.

Muhyiddin said yesterday the panel would comprise linguists, academicians, literary figures, representatives of Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka and those from the Indian community.

“I hope everybody will accept the fact that this is a novel we can use. In our syllabus, the novel will only come into play in March, so we still have time,” he said.

He also insisted that the content of the novel was not the gospel truth, nor was it historically factual.

“This is just a novel, fiction. It’s is not based on historical facts. This is not a history book, although there are some semblances to (our) historical background,” he said.

Indian groups have been up in arms against the novel, calling it propaganda and a move to indoctrinate the young on negative stereotypes of Indians.