Why Azmin Ali should resign

QUESTION TIME | A stream of recent events, topped by a suit where a travel company is asking him for some RM329,000 in travel expenses, indicate quite clearly that Minister of Economic Affairs Mohamed Azmin Ali should resign.

His reply to the suit engenders little confidence in him, the reply being that if he ascertains that the figure is right, he will pay the bill, allegedly incurred last year and this year.

This is in addition to other well-known woes facing Azmin, also deputy president to Anwar Ibrahim at PKR, including a tape released by an associate of his who claimed that Azmin had a sexual relationship with him in a hotel in Sandakan during a by-election there.

A worsening relationship between Azmin and Anwar, partly caused by suspicion that Azmin was positioned as an alternative to Anwar in the agreed succession plan for Anwar to take over from Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, reached almost breaking point when Anwar said, in response to a question, that Azmin should resign if the tape was proven to be genuine.

The police investigated the Sandakan episode, but have maintained that they could not positively identify Azmin as the person in the tape, a conclusion which was met with derision by some quarters who claimed that the technology was available to make a positive identification.

Instead, the person who made the allegations, as well as an aide to Anwar, were detained by the police for investigations. The case remains unsolved.

The relationship between Anwar and Azmin went from bad to worse and is practically non-existent, while that between Azmin and Mahathir seems to have improved by leaps and bounds to such an extent that Azmin has openly called for Mahathir to remain prime minister until the next elections.

Back to those travel bills, which indicate business/first-class travel for Azmin and some of his family members. According to reports, Azmin listed his assets under disclosure requirements with assets of RM1.7 million and salary of RM60,000 a month.

The question that naturally arises, of course, is how he can afford to spend RM329,000 on travel for just a period of six months under that kind of salary and assets. The suit for the recovery of the money was filed by YHA Travel and Tours (M) Sdn Bhd on Nov 2, through Messrs Fong Yap & Gan.

YHA’s statement of claim, according to The Edge Markets, says Azmin had been a customer of the travel agency for 20 years. The company claimed the PKR deputy president would normally settle his bills within three to four months, but in this instance, the payments have been outstanding for far longer.

The trips were made between Sept 10, 2018, and Aug 5 this year. They include family trips to Marrakech, London, Jakarta, Gold Coast, Dubai, Geneva, Singapore, Bangkok, Barcelona, and Santorini, YHA said.

The company also provided the itinerary of Azmin’s trips to Hanoi and Kota Kinabalu between Sept 14 and Sept 16, 2018; and to Sandakan on May 10 and May 11 this year, which was during the Sandakan by-election.

When questioned by reporters, Azmin had only this to say, according to The Star: "I will ask my officers to check on the claims by the travel agent, and if there are outstanding bills, I have to be responsible. I will have to pay. Let the checks (on the claims) be made."

That raises a number of questions. YHA in their writ has said that no payment was made despite repeated demands. Azmin should have said whether there were such demands and why he did not settle them, instead of waiting for a suit to be filed. He said further that he did not know why the suit was filed - ask them, he replied.

He also did not address the issue of how he could afford to pay some RM329,000 for expensive travel, especially in the light of his declared income and assets.

It is now more than 10 days since the suit has been filed, more than enough time for Azmin to comprehensively respond to all issues of prudence, responsibility and accountability that have been raised in the suit.

If he can’t give valid answers to these legitimate questions, he should no longer hold the important position of economic affairs minister, and indeed as a minister at all. Any minister in new Malaysia should be held to high standards of behaviour and should not be so derelict and questionable in his personal finances to invite a demand for payment.

If this suit is improper and falsely filed and if it contains false information, then it is incumbent upon Azmin to counter it and make a counterclaim for damages so as to stop any further damage to his reputation.

Confidence is further eroded by the sex scandal where there is no proof yet that he did not engage in those sex acts, with the inspector-general of police saying that while Cyber Security Malaysia ascertained that the tape was genuine, it could not be 100 percent sure of the identities of those in the tape.

Experts contend that it is possible with facial recognition technology to establish this beyond a reasonable doubt, and it can be used together with corroborating evidence, for instance, the appearance of the room and so on, as well as evidence of a person’s presence at the place.

This apparently does not seem to have been done in Azmin’s case, and will, therefore, be yet another issue undermining confidence in Azmin. This is yet another reason why Azmin should remove himself from a position of public office.

While Azmin and Anwar now clearly have their differences, it is too much for Azmin as PKR deputy president, who should be supporting an agreed transfer of power to his president Anwar, to instead support the view that Mahathir should continue being prime minister until the next elections.

That is not only a betrayal of Anwar, but it is also a betrayal of PKR and the entire Harapan coalition, all of whom agreed that Mahathir will only be an interim prime minister until Anwar is willing and able to take over from him. It is also a betrayal of the manifesto promise.

That should mean that not only should Azmin resign as a minister, but also as deputy president of PKR, and even as an elected representative because he no longer holds the beliefs he communicated to the electorate.

But in the new Malaysia of the old mould, one doubts it will happen anytime soon as recycled people from Umno, who still believe in the old ways, elbow their way into the top ranks of power.

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P Gunasegaram is the editor-in-chief of Focus Malaysia. He says if corruption is to be curbed, then the entire cabinet must be held to very high standards of behaviour as an example to the rest of the country. - Mkini