There seems to be much debate revolving around the Dr Chua Soi Lek sex DVD infamy that became the curtain raiser for 2008.

There are some who think the only right thing to do and which has been done, was for Chua, the former health minister, to resign from his cabinet and party posts. But then there are some others who feel what he did is not the public's business and should not be seen as a blob on his political career.

If movie stars can get away with sex scandal, then why not Chua? Why must he be held ransom for something so personal and that too when his actions have hurt no one else? Why intrude into his personal life? These are just a few of the remarks that have come from the public, when asked about the Chua issue.

Is Chua free to choose whom he beds? In any case, let the good doctor not forget that he holds public office and his each move is under scrutiny and that whatever he does can be questioned by the public.

As a leader of the community and a care taker, Chua should have known best of the consequences that awaited him over his extra marital affair, one where he was literally caught with his pants down.

‘Asking for it’

There has been much hue and cry, first by Chua himself over the "holier-than-thou" attitude of the public and secondly by the government, more precisely, the Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and MCA president Ong Ka Ting, over this issue.

Najib should make sure that fellow cabinet ministers stop fooling around.

There should be no double standards here. A womanising politician must be shown the door, irrespective of which political party he represents.

As for Ong, he should stop his rhetoric of how brave Chua is to resign from his cabinet and party posts'. The truth is very bitter and the wound raw, so stop fiddling with it time and again.

There are other issues now that need Najib and Ong's concentration, so it's best they get back to work.

If anything, the Chua scandal raises several pertinent issues that need to be tackled, appropriately that is.

Chua perhaps took it for granted that his 'closed-door affair' is no business of the rakyat. Well, he is wrong. As a minister and a people's representative, his business does become the public's business, more so if it casts the minister in a bad light.

Throwing caution to the wind and having a rendezvous, that too at a local hotel was certainly a case of 'asking for it'.

To censure the people for condemning his act was unbecoming of Chua. Did he even stop to think for a moment the devastating image he was presenting, as a leader of the people and as a family man?

Did Chua stop to think what would happen to his political career should his sexual affair come to the public's attention? Or was it that there was simply too much ego at work that this doctor had no time to apply logic over his actions?

A lesson yet to be learned

Writing this article was not an act I took on with gusto because, first, I do not intend to pass moral judgements on someone else's character and secondly, this is not an article where great delight is being taken in rebuking or further humiliating Chua.

Suffice to say that because of the differing views coming from the people, I thought best to share them through this article. It is not about flaunting the moral compass, to say the least.

I have never met Chua, under any circumstances and never will, for he has now become a nonentity. But his work as the health minister always left me impressed, knowing that finally, after the late Alex Lee, there came yet another minister who was dead serious about his job and performed it with sincerity.

That was comforting. But maybe it was a thought spoken to soon.

Why Chua did what he did is now redundant. He knew best the repercussions that awaited him should the 'affair' become public but his arrogance got the better of him.

One cannot help but wonder what was running in Chua's mind each time he walked into the hotel where the rendezvous took place. Was he not worried that someone might recognise him and spread word of his being there, more so if it was a regular visit?

And what again was running in his mind when Chua admitted he was the man in the DVD but refused to relinquish his cabinet post? It appears that Chua was either naive hoping that people will stop intruding into his private business and let him continue with his job or that he was of the belief that 'it's none of your business'?

While Chua's candour in admitting that he was the man shown by the DVD engaging in sex is respected, there is little respect otherwise left for this former vice-president of MCA.

It is his betrayal to the trust people had in him, in his 'Mr Clean' image that proved to be his downfall.

Why the apology to the rakyat when Chua knew what he did or was doing at that point in time could prove hazardous to his political career?

Is it wrong for the public to see him leave? Yes, he is correct in that he is not the first and will not be the last to be caught in extra marital affairs, but then, do politicians ever learn their lessons?

Accountability to rakyat?

Do politicians think the people have no right to take them to task over their misdemeanours? Or is there a boundary that the rakyat should not trespass? If they do, then politicians are very wrong.

If intrusion of privacy is used as a self-defense excuse, that too does not hold water unless it was an issue of intruding into the life of a politician and his wife. Snopping around for the sake of it is certainly asking for trouble.

But when a politician is exposed, the motive is obvious. However, in all the conundrum, what has come to light is the fact that politicians have no concern for the respect people have of them.

Indeed, it is strange that when it comes to love and sex, rational goes flying out of the window.

One is willing to face alll the disdain that accompanies, all for the sake of a day's fun and frolic.

Taking politicians in general and especially office bearers into account, their social antics will always be of 'interest' to the rakyat, and for the wrong reason at that. To denounce any accountability to the rakyat is certainly no mark of a true leader.

History has shown time and again of leaders the world over whose sexual tryst become general information, who waste no time in resigning, due to the unbearable shame that follows.

Chua should have a taken a cue here instead of confidently announcing that he would not resign his post. His this remark would have angered the public further, for they would have no respect left for a man who betrayed his family, his wife of many years and his children.

Chua's affair has brought to mind what is so true of politicians and the motto that they uphold, that of "do as I say and not as I do".

Every action has a reaction

Life has the yin and yang. There is the good and the bad and for every action, there is a reaction, which some politicians conveniently forget when engaging extra marital affairs.

Keeping in mind the latest 'Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde' case involving Chua, a ruling must be put in place that prevents politicians who hold public office from straying. Should the inevitable happen, the decent step would be to leave office.

To disregard what the public thinks and feels after he was exposed was Chua's mistake. He took many things for granted, all for the sake of personal gratification. Luckily for him, his family, in spite of living with shame, has not forsaken him.

By the way, making the press the scapegoat is not going to solve Chua's problem. He lamented that the excessive press coverage he received while doing his job killed his political career.

Chua again conveniently forgets that it was because of the press that he became the 'darling' of the people, for his good work was often reported by the media. Instead of pointing fingers at the press, it would do Chua good to contemplate what really went wrong.

It is Chua's 'I care a damn' attitude that needed change. Holding public office comes with heavy responsibilities and do's and dont's and this Chua failed to keep in mind.

Instead of displaying sarcasm, Chua must remember that it was his doing that led to his political downfall.

A dialogue I once heard bears repeating: "Every man is the best judge of his actions and he has to pay the price for what he does".