DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua has demanded that Defence Minister Zahid Hamidi explain his relationship to blogger Papagomo who was allowed on the KD Tun Razak Scorpene submarine.

This, Pua adds, was despite Zahid's denial that any blogger was allowed onto the submarine at the time of Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng's visit to the vessel.

NONE "Papagomo's privilege is a clear cut case of abuse of power and the defence minister must explain his intimate association with one of the ‘most despicable' of Umno bloggers, said Pua ( left ).

Besides lambasting Zahid's denial, Pua also took Ahmad Zahid to task for his failure to honour his word to accompany Lim during the submarine dive.

"Papagomo's blogpost with pictures (of the submarine) has proven beyond doubt that Zahid is not only untrustworthy, Papagomo is the numero uno Umno blogger, hatchetman and special advisor to the defence minister, or the latter would not have been allowed on board the high security submarine.

"The fact that Papagomo possesses such exclusive privilege with the defence minister who is also the most senior Umno vice-president, confirms his position as the latter's inner circle confidante," said Pua.

Questioned crew

In a blog post yesterday, Papagomo admitted being in the submarine for about five hours, and had questioned the crew about everything related to the craft, the details of which are considered "a government secret".

Pua also noted that Zahid had earlier this year accused him of being arrested and charged in Singapore thereby disqualifying him from becoming an MP in the city state.

"Such fantastic stories can only originate from an Umno blogger extraordinaire, who had also started the despicable and fictitious allegations that Lim's son was forced to transfer school due to sexual assault and Lim had paid money to cover up the case."

The alleged victim, Anya Corke, has since denied the allegation.

He added the submarine dive with Pakatan leaders on board only proved the professionalism of the Malaysia Navy but did not address the exorbitant amount of money paid for it including hundreds of millions in ringgit allegedly as commission.