Is Our Tax Money Paying For Muhyiddin's Golfing Sessions In Dubai?

KUALA LUMPUR: The Auditor General was urged to investigate Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s current five-day trip to Dubai and his other recent travels abroad.

freemalaysiatoday.com

Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin arrived Monday (7 April) for a five-day working visit to Dubai where he will attend key investment and education forums and meet prominent figures of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

bernama.com

Muhyiddin is scheduled to attend the Annual Investment Meeting (AIM) 2014 where he is expected to deliver a keynote address. AIM 2014, to be held at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre (DICEC) from April 8 to 10, is to encourage foreign direct investment (FDI) and country-specific public-private partnership opportunities by showcasing economic potentials.

bernama.com

Muhyiddin, who is also education minister, will attend the Gulf Education and Training Exhibition (GETEX) 2014 on Wednesday where he is scheduled to officiate the Malaysian pavilion. Muhyiddin is scheduled to meet Malaysian professionals residing in the UAE on Friday.

bernama.com

Bukit Mertajam MP, Steven Sim and Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Khir Johari today alleged that only a small portion of Muhyiddin's trip was dedicated to official events.

fz.com

They said his schedule, which was published on a whistleblower’s blog, was filled with private engagements, informal dinners, and trips to the golf course and his officials duties took up only about three hours.

freemalaysiatoday.com

Citing an itinerary of the trip taken from a whistleblower's blog, Zairil Khir today asked if it was fair for the trip to be funded with tax-payers money "when the official event was only three hours (but) the trip included ten hours of golf and other private functions and dinner".

fz.com

The remaining days in Dubai will be spent on “private programmes” and the occasional informal dinner with a few business figures and Malaysian diaspora. On the final day, he has another golf engagement.

malaysia-chronicle.com

Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim and Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Khir Johari asked what was the point in sending a 17-member delegation which included Muhyiddin's wife, a private secretary, a press secretary, two political secretaries, four special officers, one aide-de-camp and six bodyguards.
"Is it cost-cutting or extravagance to send 17 people to Dubai for a five-day golf holiday with a little work squeezed in?" asked Zairil in a statement.

Citing documents leaked on a whistleblower website, Zairil said the sheer size of the delegation was questionable. "Why is the entire delegation made up exclusively of people from Muhyiddin's own office with no officials from the Education Ministry?"

themalaysianinsider.com

It was revealed that the Deputy Prime Minister is travelling by “special aircraft.”

malaysia-chronicle.com

The trip which also includes an entourage, staying at the Shangri-La, was financed by government agency Pemandu and the Education Ministry.

fz.com

"Terlalu banyak pemborosan dan pembaziran yang berlaku dalam Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia! Sebab tu, Cikgu terpaksa membuat satu pendedahan di sini, iaitu jadual perjalanan Timbalan Perdana Menteri merangkap Menteri Pendidikan di Dubai dari 8-12 April 2014.

blogspot.com

Both MPs demanded that Putrajaya give an account of how much Muhyiddin's entire trip, including the use of special aircraft, has cost taxpayers. "The public should also be told how Muhyiddin's programme will benefit Malaysians, in terms of education or commerce," Zairil said.

themalaysianinsider.com

Sim today added that the Ministry must explain how effective this trip was to improve the education level in the country, especially when Malaysia was consistently lagging behind in international assessments.

fz.com

The MPs will also submit a written question in parliament for further clarification. When asked if the whistlelower's information was genuine, both MPs said that the ball was in the Ministry's court to confirm or deny the information.

fz.com

He said the Education ministry had been allocated RM54 billion - the largest budget among all ministries for this year - and yet, education standards continue to freefall as evident in students’ performance in international assessments.

themalaysianinsider.com

"While there is no doubt that education is a critical area to be focusing our resources on, the Government should be spending on programmes that improve student outcomes and not on expensive leisure trips for the deputy prime minister to play golf," he said.

themalaysianinsider.com

He called on the Auditor General to investigate this trip as well as other trips Muhyiddin had taken.

themalaysianinsider.com

In the statement, the DPMO explained that the document exposed by the two MPs - Zairil Khir Johari (Bukit Bendera) and Steven Sim Chee Keong (Bukit Mertajam) - was not the actual itinerary for the visit but the initial draft which was still being discussed at that time.

nst.com.my

"It's normal to have some changes in the draft for any overseas programme before it is finalised. "This is due to the fact that the programmes are subject to the approval by the authorities in the host country. For example, the draft exposed by the MPs did not have the official programme for the DPM in Dubai on April 8," said the statement.

nst.com.my

In the finalised itinerary, it explained that Muhyiddin had a tight schedule throughout the visit, including delivering a keynote speech at the Annual Investment Meeting (AIM) 2014 on Tuesday, where he met the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Vice-President and Prime Minister Shaikh Mohammad Rashid Al-Maktoum, who is also the Dubai ruler.

nst.com.my