Another scandal takes off?

By admin-s On Mar 17, 2015

Could it be that the Cabinet was not referred to on the purchase of this new jet?

Scott Ng, FMT

You’d think that the last thing Prime Minister Najib needs right now is another scandal, considering that he is currently besieged by political rivals, principally over the 1MDB affair. It’s as if our Prime Minister just cannot keep his nose out of trouble, and if word of a new jet purchased with public funds is true, he’s found himself in another sticky spot.

It wasn’t too long ago that Malaysia was all abuzz with news that the government jet was flying all over the United States with an unknown passenger, speculated by many to be the PM’s wife Rosmah Mansor. While we never found out the truth of that particular matter, it was nonetheless quite a popular topic, and even more so when the public found the cost of operating the jet to be an exorbitant RM27,501.75 per hour, which is more than a lot of families in Malaysia earn per year.

Now, word is going around that the government has just purchased a ACJ320 jet, which costs approximately RM296 million. Considering the times, one would dare say that this was a rather eye-popping purchase. After all, in less than two weeks, we are due to see the GST come into effect, which is expected to cause a rise in prices everywhere, and Malaysians are already punching additional holes in their belts in anticipation.

Such a purchase, if indeed it was made, is certainly a cause for scrutiny. After all, the government already leases an Airbus 320 9H-AWK to serve as Perdana One. Has it already reached the end of its life as a carrier worthy of the nation’s leader or of the nation’s leader’s wife?

There’s also the little matter of a tweet by Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin regarding the alleged purchase. Khairy said, “If new govt jet claim untrue, dispel quickly before fiction passes itself as fact. If true, explanation needed as soon as possible.”