Najib told not to hide from the public money spent on 'First Lady'

The existence of a new division in the Prime Minister's Department dedicated to the wife of none other than the PM himself continues to raise questions.

DAP Bukit Bendera member of parliament Liew Chin Tong has called on Najib Razak to explain his contradictory statements regarding the 'First Lady of Malaysia Division' (FLOM) which was supposedly to manage the affairs and activities of Rosmah Mansor.

Pointing a parliamentary reply in November 2010 by Najib, Liew reminded that Najib stated there would be no full-time staff or contract staff assigned for his wife.

This was proven otherwise with the recent revelation of FLOM's existence, earlier reported by Harakahdaily.

A check on the website of the PM's Department then had enlisted five officers for FLOM, led by one Siti Azizah Sheikh Abod as its special officer.

“When the information was discovered and made public by certain media and by Seputeh MP Teresa Kok, the related information 'mysteriously' disappeared from the website. The truth about the allocation remains to be told.

"The 'newly discovered' First Lady of Malaysia division was not mentioned in the four-volume Federal Staff List, which forms part of the federal budget 2011 documents," stressed Liew, adding that the public should also know "how much the division has been allocated" as well as its functions.

Hours after the Harakahdaily report, the link to FLOM's directory went missing.

Besides FLOM, Liew said the directory had also listed several advisors the positions of whom were not mentioned in Budget 2011.

This included Dr. Abdullah bin Md Zin as advisor for Islamic Affairs, Shahidan Kassim as advisor on North Corridor Economic Region (NCER), Jalaludin bin Bahaudin as the media advisor, Mohammad Kamal Yan Yahaya as advisor for International Relations, and Dr Zakri Abd Hamid as the Science advisor. Each advisor in turn has been allocating their own staff, said Liew.

Liew reminded that the PM's Department was the biggest spender among the various ministries, receiving some RM15.8 billion this year which excluded the allocations for the Attorney-General's Chamber and the Public Services Department.

“With a record setting amount compared to past years and had been more than doubled from the RM6.87 billion allocation in 2007, I press on the Prime Minister to present a truthful reply on this issue and to remain accountable to the people.

"The people of Malaysia deserve to know how their money is spent."

- Harakahdaily