6 Things You Should Know About Haziq Abdul Aziz
The deputy minister's aide admitted earlier today, 12 June, that he is one of the men in the viral videos.
Gay sex videos allegedly involving a federal minister surfaced on social media yesterday, 11 June
The videos were first posted on a WhatsApp group early yesterday, before making their way to other social media platforms.
The incident is believed to have occurred in a hotel room.
One of the men in the videos, Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz has since released a confession video over the matter
The 27-year-old admitted to being in the viral videos and alleged that he was with a cabinet minister.
He added that the videos, which he claimed were recorded without his consent, was taken on 11 May at a hotel in Sandakan, Sabah during the recent by-election.
Haziq also urged the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to investigate the minister he was with, as the latter is "not qualified to be a leader".
Haziq's viral confession video has sparked Pakatan Harapan's first major scandal. Here's what we know about him so far:
1. He works for the Ministry of Primary Industries
Haziq is the senior private secretary to Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin, the Deputy Primary Industries Minister.
He received his letter of appointment on 15 Jan.
2. He is a Universiti Malaysa (UM) alumni
According to Malaysiakini, the Kuching native was a first-year student at the university in 2012.
He holds a law degree from UM.
3. In his first year of university, he was found guilty of hanging funeral garlands on the portrait of former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak
In 2012, Haziq was among the three UM students who were suspended for a semester and fined RM200 each for being a part of an anti-PTPTN demonstration, reported The Star.
The demonstration called on the authorities to abolish PTPTN and provide free tertiary education.
One of the students, Mohd Syahid had argued that hanging funeral garlands on Najib's portrait was a symbolic move to show their dissatisfaction.
4. Within a month after he was handed a suspension in 2012, Haziq allegedly insulted the Sultan of Johor through a series of tweets
Malaysiakini reported that Haziq was making a reference to the Johor Sultan who had a row with Datuk Seri Mohamad Nizar Jamaludin, the former Menteri Besar of Perak over the bidding of a vehicle number plate.
"You're the one who bought a plate for RM1 or 2 million, but Nizar is the one who has to apologise to Johoreans," Haziq wrote in one of his tweets.
In response to his tweets, ex-Minister of Higher Education Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin previously said he would leave it to UM to take disciplinary action against Haziq for his tweets.
5. He used to be a Barisan Nasional (BN) supporter, and reportedly worked for former Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri before the 14th General Election (GE14)
The Star reported a close friend of Haziq as saying that his support for political parties had varied over the years.
"When I first met him, he was a strong supporter of UMNO... Then, he became a Pakatan Rakyat supporter. A few years later, he was following a Sarawak Barisan minister here and there, and I assumed he was for Barisan again," the friend was quoted as saying by The Star.
According to Malaysiakini, Haziq became an intern for Nancy in 2017, and appeared to be part of her GE14 election team while being an official member of PKR. Party secretary-general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution revealed that no action was taken against Haziq as no one lodged a complaint about his activities with Nancy.
The Star reported that Haziq's friend was surprised to find Haziq being appointed as the private secretary of Deputy Primary Industries Minister Shamsul. It was then he found out Haziq was back to supporting Pakatan.
"Throughout many years knowing Haziq, he's very easily influenced. He does have ambition and would do anything to achieve it," the friend said, according to The Star.
6. Two of his friends claimed that they never knew he was gay
The Star reported Haziq's friends as claiming that he had a steady relationship with a woman for years before breaking up recently.
Another friend revealed that Haziq was religious during his schooldays.
Meanwhile, Datuk Seri Azmin Ali - the cabinet minister implicated in the sex video - has broken his silence on the allegations: