"This is not the first time she has done it. I am exploring this and getting more information about it," PKR deputy president Azmin Ali said when contacted.
Azmin said his sources at Malaysia Airlines (MAS) also confirmed that neither Rosmah or Najib had never flown on the national carrier since Najib took office in 2008.
Azmin, (right)
who is also Gombak MP, said the trip raises two main issues -
eligibility of the PM's wife to use the government jet on her own and
whether she can represent the government on official business.During her Nov 10-14 trip, Rosmah had, among others, met with the Qatari prime minister to extend Najib's invitation to him to travel to here for the Visit Malaysia 2014 programme.
"This is not the role of the PM's wife. Any invitation from the prime minister should be extended by the foreign minister or the PM himself. So who is the foreign minister now?" he asked.
Azmin, who was aide to now PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim when Anwar was a deputy minister, said at that time, only the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Raja Permaisuri Agong, prime minister and deputy prime minister qualified for this privilege.
However, the PM and deputy prime minister's wives can fly on the jet when accompanying their spouses.
"Have the rules changed since then?" Azmin asked.
All alone on the jet?
He said the reply from Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Shahidan Kassim (below) in Parliament that the cabinet approved the use of the government jet implied that Rosmah was not entitled to this facility.
"Our
second question was who chaired the cabinet meeting (that approved the
trip)? But he declined to answer, saying this is cabinet matter and
cannot be disclosed," Azmin said. He pointed out that this was a crucial matter as conflict of interest would arise if Najib was the one who gave the approval.
Pengerang MP Azalina Othman, who admitted to being part of Rosmah's entourage on the trip, yesterday told the House that it was Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin who chaired the cabinet meeting.
"But we still don't have an official reply from the government on this," Azmin said.
He added that he would be submitting a parliamentary question asking for details of the trip, including how many people joined the trip and if they all flew on the government jet or the government had to foot the bill for commercial airline fares as well.
"Then we will know if the jet was only for Rosmah," he said, noting, however, that the reply would only be obtained at next year's parliamentary sitting.
Quizzed by reporters yesterday, Rosmah refused to comment on this controversy, beyond saying that that she is "happy" and that she would continue to "do (her) work".
"I don't talk, I don't comment, I don't go down to that level," she reportedly said before directing reporters to her special officer Siti Azizah Sheikh Abod.
Siti Azizah then said that Rosmah was invited to speak in Qatar not for "personal reasons" but went "for the sake of the government's interests".
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