Who was using official jet, asks lawmaker after unsatisfactory answer in Parliament
Who was the mystery "VVIP" travelling on the government jet from December 27 to January 7 this year, if it was not prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, a PKR lawmaker asked today.
Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin posed the question after he received an unsatisfactory written reply to his parliamentary question on the route, cost and passenger manifest of the plane, an Airbus A319 bearing tail number 9M-NAA.
After photographs of him playing golf with US President Barack Obama in Hawaii went viral amid criticism over his absence when massive floods hit several states in Malaysia, Najib reportedly took a Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) transport plane home, fuelling speculation over the whereabouts of the government jet.
In response to Sim’s question, the prime minister's department said that during the 12-day trip from December 22 until January 7, the jet was used for the prime minister's official purpose.
It also stated that the cost was “in accordance with what the prime minister was entitled to spend”.
Furthermore, it said the passengers on the jet were those who were entitled to be on it, such as the security personnel entrusted to protect the prime minister.
Sim, however, pointed out today that on top of the unsatisfactory reply, the facts contained were also wrong.
He said the media had reported that Najib had returned to Malaysia on December 27 after playing golf with Obama, adding this meant that the prime minister was not using the jet from December 27 until January 7.
"The VVIP passenger remains a mystery.
"And is the mystery passenger more entitled than the prime minister?" he said, adding that the people deserved to know given that it was taxpayers money being spent.
Sim also said this was the first time the government was evading answering the question in full, adding that in the last parliament sitting, a similar question was answered properly.
He was referring to the question on Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor's trip to Qatar using the government jet in 2014, to which the government responded by saying that the total expenses for that trip amounted to RM426,489.
Sim said the response this time appeared as though the government had something to hide.
He said that according to PKR's estimate, the cost of the 12-day trip during which the jet had travelled from Hawaii to Los Angeles, New York, London, Dubai, Bangkok before returning to Malaysia would have cost RM494,404.
He criticised the prime minister's department reply as not adhering to parliamentary democracy, where the government was duty-bound to answer questions posed by MPs in a forthright manner. – March 13, 2015.
