Rafidah versus Kit Siang: one is a liar
Today, Rafidah said she had already replied to the AP scandal in Parliament in 2005 and that you can read the Parliament Hansard to see what she said. On 5th October 2005, Kit Siang said Rafidah evaded his six questions in Parliament and did not reply to them. So, who is lying, Rafidah or Kit Siang?
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
RAFIDAH AZIZ: 8th MARCH 2018
(The Malaysian Insight) – Rafidah Aziz came out with guns blazing today after a blog accused her of abusing Approved Permits (AP) when she was international trade and industry minister.
Although she did not name the writer or the blog in her Facebook post today, it was clear her guns were trained at Malaysia Today blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin for yesterday’s piece titled “Rafidah, Queen of the APs”.
“Do they think the APs belong to my grandfather, to dish out to all and sundry? Don’t ever besmirch the good name of Miti (International Trade and Industry Ministry), which I helmed for 21 years.
“The AP issue was a non-issue. I have explained in Parliament (in 2005), no less! Please do check the Parliament Hansard before slandering me,” she said.
LIM KIT SIANG: 5th OCTOBER 2005
(Lim Kit Siang Blog) – This is because her (Rafidah Aziz’s) answers in Parliament yesterday was basically a ‘wash-out’, evading all the pertinent questions, in particular had failed to explain why she created three ‘AP King of Kings’ — Tan Sri Nasimuddin SM Amin, Datuk Syed Azman Syed Ibrahim and Datuk Mohd Haniff Abdul Aziz — who were collectively issued 33,218 APs or 50.1% of total AP allocation for 2004 and 28,283 APs or 41% of total AP allocation for 2005.
Although Rafidah said the decision to give APs to MPs was a Cabinet decision — which had been contradicted by the former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who had said that he did not know that MPs had been given APs — the pertinent questions are: who had brought the ‘APs for MPs’ issue to Cabinet, what was the rationale for this decision, and as Dr Mahathir said he knew nothing about this decision, how was this matter and decision smuggled into the Cabinet?
