PM mum over cost of bringing Rosmah to NY
Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has refused to divulge the total cost for bringing his wife Rosmah Mansor to New York in April despite being asked to do so in Parliament.
Demands for the exact cost of the trip were met with a vague response.
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Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has refused to divulge the total cost for bringing his wife Rosmah Mansor to New York in April despite being asked to do so in Parliament.
In his written parliamentary reply to N Gobalakrishnan (PKR-Padang Serai) (right), Najib avoided mentioning any figure altogether,sought by the former.
"Rosmah's lodging and travelling costs are included in the budget provided for the prime minister, in view of her position as the prime minister's wife," read Najib's one-paragraph written reply.
Dissatisfied with the reply given, Gobalakrishnan raised the matter with speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia over the "inaccurate answer".
However, Pandikar replied that the Standing Orders do not provide him with powers to evaluate the "quality" of a ministerial answer, thus he could not rule on Gobalakrishnan's complaint.
After attending the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington DC, Najib and Rosmah attended a glitzy function at the five-star St Regis Hotel in New York on April 16.
The star-studded event saw the attendance of Oscar winning actor Robert De Niro, Charlize Theron and Emmy Rossum, and was emceed by another Oscar winner, Jamie Foxx.
During the function, Rosmah received the International Peace and Harmony Award from the US Business Council for International Understanding (BCIU), in recognition of the various causes she was involved in.
Though it could not be confirmed independently, various Internet reports suggest that a highlight of the event was when Rosmah and Foxx performed a pop song duet.
Online debate
The event was glossed over by the local press, but later there was substantial online debate over a two-page full-colour congratulatory advertisement in the New York Times for Rosmah which was apparently from "Family and friends in the USA and Malaysia".
Malaysian netizens doubted the ambiguous attribution and were also irate because Rosmah was referred to as the "first lady of Malaysia", a title that should rightfully be reserved for the Raja Permaisuri Agong.
According to previous reports by The Nut Graph, the New York Times had initially claimed that the Malaysian government paid for the ad, but later retracted this.
Following this, Najib (left) had told Parliament that it was the BCIU which placed the ad. However, the council has yet to confirm this.
Speaking to reporters later, Gobalakrishnan urged the government to come clean about the cost of Rosmah's trip.
"Previously, they said an NGO paid for the PM's spouse's trip. But now they say it was the PM's office that is paying," he said.
"I am going to write in again. I asked for figures, but they did not give me the amount. The people should know how much is being spent on the PM's wife."
