I am surprised that Khalid Jafri was the one to wash Azalina Othman's dirty linen in public vis-a-vis her alleged lesbian affair with the wife of a prominent Malay businessman in Shah Alam.

Rumours about the affair were circulating months ago and was an open secret even then. I am not surprised by the revelations.

Utusan Malaysia had in fact published a long article on the alleged lesbian relationship as well as Azalina's rebuttal. It was a standard response to stories of such nature, that is the reply neither denied nor affirmed outright the allegations.

As a trained lawyer, Azlina must surely know that her responses have been evasive and would not stand up in any court of public opinion as a denial.

Unlike Anwar Ibrahim who denied the allegations against him before a hundred thousand people in the Sultan Muhammad IV Stadium in Kota Bahru. He even lodged a police report on Khalid's book, if indeed he (Anwar) knew he was not wrong.

What Anwar had not thought of was that evidences and witnesses could be manufactured, as happened in the course of his show trial in 1999.

Khalid Jafri's recent revelations were taken more seriously than Utusan Malaysia's because Khalid had the audacity to publish a photo of Azlina's alleged lover and provided more details. There was also a photograph of her alleged lover's house with two Mercedes Benzes and a Rolls-Royce.

The pictures added more credence to Khalid's allegations. He had also implicated real-life characters, namely the alleged lover and her husband. That they chose to keep quiet is fuelling rumours the allegations were indeed true because silence equals an admission of guilt in our culture. Furthermore, Azalina is a lawyer with the means to sue for damages.

But I am more puzzled why the party chose to look the other way when Azalina's alleged lesbian affairs became an open secret after her appointment to the Umno Supreme Council.

Did the Special Branch make a slip-up by not informing Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad on Azlina's social and sexual background that could compromise her seat in the Supreme Council and as Puteri Umno chief.

Surely, the Special Branch knew all about her, as they do many other politicians, including those whose names have been mentioned by the National Mosque ex-chief iman Taib Azamudden Md Taib.

The best thing for Khalid or anybody to do now is to lodge a police report and let the police bundle in Azalina and her alleged lover along with the Mercedes Benz for some investigation to start with, and get the issue resolved once and for all.