Chua sings Najib’s praises: 'Helped with sex video statement'

Former MCA president Chua Soi Lek, known for his phenomenal political comeback despite resigning over a sex scandal, said then Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had lent him a hand when the controversy erupted.

Spefically, said Chua, Najib helped in the drafting of the speech that the embattled party chief read out on television admitting he was the person in a sex video that had been anonymously circulated.

"At that time, when I drafted the speech to admit on television, I wrote it with Najib. I went to his house.

"He thought I wrote it in a way that was too rigid, (so) he edited it for me," Chua said in a Mandarin interview with Cari.com.my.

Chua praised Najib as someone who was always ready to lend his ear.

"Najib is actually a good listener; he listens to you," said Chua.

Chua, who was MCA vice-president at that time, had admitted to being the man in the sex video on Jan 1, 2008, and resigned from all posts - including as health minister - the following day.

However, he made an unprecedented comeback nine months later, and was elected MCA deputy president in October.

Then MCA president Ong Tee Keat used Chua's sex scandal to expel him from the party in 2009 but failed, and was instead unseated by Chua the following year.

Decision to take responsibility

Chua admitted that eight years on since the scandal, his opponents still bring up the sex video when he criticises MCA president Liow Tiong Lai.

"But I think if you want to hurt me, you have already hurt me. I have already paid the price.

"I have even gone through a party general assembly which voted to restore my party membership," he said.

Recalling the sex scandal, Chua, who is married, said he did not hesitate in admitting to being the man in the video with a woman whom he had described as a personal friend.

"On the day I knew about it (the video being circulated), the next day after the cabinet meeting, at 4.30pm, I admitted (to the video)," he said.

He said this was despite his lawyers advising him that he could get away with denying it.

"Lawyers said ‘no one can prove it's you. First, you will need the woman to cooperate and then the person who shot the video must also come forward.

"‘These two people will surely not come forward, so no one would dare say it’s you. If you sue them (the accusers), you could even win'," he recounted.

Chua added that he had also consulted the attorney-general at that time, who had given a similar view.

However, Chua said he wanted to take responsibility for his actions.

Asked if he regretted the scandal, Chua said life has to go on. -Mkini