Dr M: Azmin ‘not that stupid’ to get caught in sex tape
Kenneth Tee
Malay Mail24 June 2019
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed attends the opening of the Asia Oil and Gas Conference 2019 in Kuala Lumpur June 24, 2019. Datuk Seri Azmin Ali is on his right. — Bernama picMore
KUALA LUMPUR, June 24 — Datuk Seri Azmin Ali is not so stupid that he would get himself recorded while in a sexual affair, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has said today.
Defending his minister, Dr Mahathir however agreed that the move may be a deliberate attempt to affect Azmin’s political future.
“I don’t think he is so stupid as to do that and get caught in a picture like that.
“I think somebody is out to bring him down and nowadays with all kind of miracles in the electronics, you can show a lot of pictures which may or may not be true,” he told reporters at the 20th Asia Oil and Gas Conference held in KLCC here.
Dr Mahathir was earlier asked to respond to Datuk A. Kadir Jasin’s blog post, which warned Pakatan Harapan on how to handle on the scandal that implicated the economic affairs minister.
The prime minister also said while the government has already pushed for the repeal of the Anti-Fake News Act, he conceded that action must still be taken against those who disseminate fake news materials.
Dr Mahathir also maintained that Azmin needed not to resign over the matter as there was no necessity to follow what leaders in other countries do in such circumstances.
“I know in one country if a plane crashes in the airfield, the minister of transport resigns or throws himself out of a building but it is not our way,” he said.
While Kadir did not go into the specifics of the video, he went on to provide international examples of ministers who have resigned.
Among the examples he gave was UK’s Small Business, Consumers and Corporate Responsibility Minister Andrew Griffiths resigning for sexual messages to female constituents and Ontario’s Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade Minister Jim Wilson resigning over alleged sexual misconduct in Canada.
Former secretary to Deputy Primary Industries Minister Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin, Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz has confessed that he was the man in the video and his partner was Azmin.
Haziq further alleged that the video was secretly filmed during the Sandakan by-election this year.
Azmin, who is also PKR deputy president, has brushed aside the sex video and called it a nefarious plot to destroy his political career.
