Minister grilled over jet ride for Rosmah paid by gov't

PARLIAMENT Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Shahidan Kassim was grilled in Parliament today as to why the government paid for prime minister's wife Rosmah Mansor's use of an executive jet for a trip to Qatar earlier this month.

Opposition MPs asked whether Rosmah was allowed such privileges according to government rules, to which Shahidan (right) replied: "The trip was approved by the cabinet, which agreed that the trip was important, and allowed for the use of the jet."

At this, Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak) stood up to point out that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak chaired the cabinet meeting and it was a conflict of interest for him to approve a jet ride for his wife.

"Did the prime minister leave the room before a decision was made for the approval?" Azman demanded to know.

The led Hanipa Maidin (PAS-Sepang) to stand up and say the prime minister could be charged in court if he did not follow procedures in deciding on a matter that has conflict of interest.

However, Shahidan refused to say whether the prime minister was involved in the decision-making, insisting that it was an official trip.

"His wife was representing the country, for the interest of the people," he said.

The response opened another cans of worms as Mahfuz Omar (PAS-Pokok Sena, right)) questioned whether a prime minister wife is allowed to represent the country on bilateral ties.

"It is okay for the wife to accompany the prime minister but to represent the country is an anomaly and does not happen anywhere else in the world," Mahfuz said.

Fumbling answers

Shahidan then attempted to respond but provided a series of confusing answers.

Using himself as example, Shahidan said that even he would be representing Malaysia in a conference in Ankara, Turkey soon.

At this, several MPs stood up and responded: "You are a minister, of course you can represent Malaysia, but not your wife".

Shahidan then used an example of MPs too being allowed to represent Malaysia overseas, as opposition MPs again pointed out that they represented Parliament and not their wives.

The minister who was visibly annoyed and he finally said that the trip was an official one and refused to say anymore.

Rosmah went to Qatar by jet on Nov 10, for the 4th Qatar International Businesswomen's Forum.

'Why Najib not supporting MAS'

Earlier, Anthony Loke (DAP-Seremban) also hit out at Najib for his penchant for executive jets and for not using the national carrier Malaysia Airlines for his official trips.

"How can the government expect the rakyat to support Malaysia Airlines when the head of government himself will not support the national carrier?" Loke (right) asked.

Even Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, he said, travelled on Singapore Airlines.

However, Shahidan claimed that relying on commercial flights, especially for last minute trips, could sometimes be more costly than using executive jets.

"It is not logical to expect the prime minister to follow commercial flight schedules. Using jets is his privilege," he said.

Earlier this month, the government had revealed to Parliament that the use of jets by the government had cost RM14.95 million for fuel and RM160.08 million on maintenance, with a single flight costing around RM470,000.