KUALA LUMPUR, May 20 — First, it was a picture purportedly of Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud in a bikini. Now, it is one of her with Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali.

The online attacks against DAP’s candidate for the Teluk Intan by-election has resumed, with detractors now circulating a photograph of Dyana Sofya standing beside the head of the Malay rights group, believed to be from an event hosted by the latter to fete Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

Ibrahim, who is known to be close to the Gua Musang federal lawmaker popularly known as Ku Li, reportedly organised the dinner to celebrate the latter’s honorary doctorate from Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) on March 10.

Ku Li, Ibrahim, and Dyana Sofya’s mother Yammy Samat had been in the Semangat 46 party that splintered from Umno during the Kelantan prince’s feud with then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Dyana Sofya is also an alumni of UiTM.

According to news portal Malaysiakini, the circulation of the photo has led to questions of Dyana Sofya’s affiliation with Ibrahim, who has had repeated run-ins with the leaders of her DAP party over matters of race and religion.

Last week, a photograph of a woman wearing a two-piece swimsuit was distributed online and accompanied by claims that it was of the former political aide to DAP national advisor Lim Kit Siang.

The picture was later identified as that of Filipino actress Pauleen Luna.

The start of the attacks against Dyana Sofya coincided with speculation that she would be named as the DAP candidate for the Teluk Intan poll.

In a bid to shed its image as a predominantly-Chinese party, DAP picked Dyana Sofya, a young Malay woman, as its candidate for the May 25 by-election in Teluk Intan, a Chinese-majority constituency.

Dyana will face Gerakan president Datuk Mah Siew Keong in a straight fight for Teluk Intan.

Mah won the Teluk Intan seat in 1999 and 2004, but lost to DAP’s M. Manogaran in 2008 with a 1,470-vote majority.

DAP’s Seah Leong Peng had defeated Mah in 2013 with a 7,313 majority before succumbing to advanced bladder cancer on May 1, this year.

The voter base in Teluk Intan is 42 per cent Chinese, 38 per cent Malay and 19 per cent Indian, making a total of 60,349 registered voters.