YOURSAY | ‘Many of us are on tight schedule, but we never use private jets!’

Aide defends Rosmah's use of private jet, says she was on tight schedule

Anonymous_3e21: According to the flight schedules, the aircraft departed from UAE for Subang on May 23 and it took off from Subang with Rosmah Mansor on board on May 25 at 5.13am, and it should arrive in UAE at around 8am.

The plane then made a five-hour stopover in UAE before departing for Istanbul. She then departed Istanbul for UAE on May 25 at 7.56pm with a short stopover, and arrived in Subang around noon on May 27.

Now if you see the scheduling, would it be better for Rosmah to fly commercial direct to Istanbul rather to be picked up by the private jet since the jet was in UAE in the first place.

Secondly, why the need for a stopover in UAE since the plane can fly direct to Istanbul?

Anonymous_3f49: "Rosmah Mansor had to use a private jet for her trip to Istanbul due to her tight schedule, said her aide Rizal Mansor."

Was she on government business? This is yet another feeble excuse for the profligate use of public funds.

Anonymous_1388029052: Rosmah's attendance at the two functions was not important to the nation.

She should have used her own money to buy an economy class flight to Istanbul. Why should taxpayer like me pay for her trip?

Beep!: It would be much cheaper to send the nearest ambassador's wife to pick up the prize on her behalf. We face budget cuts everywhere, but not for FLOM (First Lady of Malaysia).

Commentable: At times, whenever it is convenient to do so, those who are so-called aiding and abetting the government will claim that Rosmah is merely a housewife but at other times, she is more than a VVIP with a schedule tighter than the QEII (Queen Elizabeth II).

So then, there must be a point where one has to weigh the merits of which function to attend, if all of these were to fall within the same time.

That's what aides are for - to advise on these kind of matters and to find excuses, and where necessary, to slot in a representative to attend one of the functions on her behalf.

I'm sure even HRH the Raja Permaisuri Agong is magnanimous enough to excuse her for not able to attend a Girls' Guide thingy.

Of course, it's a different thing if she has to foot the cost herself for the private jet instead of from the public kitty. If not, it is abuse of public funds that is unforgivable, no matter what kind of function she was attending.

Anonymous_1430213195: The private jet was paid with government money, not the rakyat’s.

ConstitutionIsSupreme: First thing first, Rizal, how much is the fuel and plane rental and maintenance apportioned cost? Second, is Rosmah entitled to use the jet?

Third, if Rosmah is entitled, is it justified to spend the rakyat’s money to ferry her to Istanbul and back? What will be the benefits to Malaysians by her attending these two functions? Can she not skip one of them?

Will it not be better to use the money to build low-cost fabricated house for the Kelantan flood victims who are still staying at tents after 12 months?

Old Timer: It seems neither Rosmah nor her aide, Rizal, can come up with a solution to solve the situation of having to attend two functions in succession.

Surely they can prioritise which is the more important function, and leave the less important function to another person to attend?

Are our government servants who are highly paid with taxpayers' money so brainless? Why is she allowed to use government aircraft when she was not an elected representative anyway?

Kuasa Rakyat: Just let us know the amount spend and we will be the judge whether it was excessive. Otherwise it was excessive.

Fairplayer: Many of us are on tight schedule, but we never use private jets!

'PM's wife helped thousands of children but what has Rafizi done?'

Kingfisher: Rizal failed to rebut Rafizi's reference to excesses in the engagement of a private aircraft by the PM's wife.

Why bother at this exalted level to rebut if one is not equipped to convincingly demolish the alleged indiscretions pointed out by Rafizi?

Ah-hah!!!: Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK) graduate Rafizi has not used/wasted hundreds of thousands of the rakyat's money to jet around.

He has also not spent many millions of ringgit hosting that grandiose First Ladies Conference which to my mind achieved nothing worthwhile.

And he has not given the rakyat cause to wonder whether massive sums of their money has been spent in questionable fashion when so many are feeling the pain of inflation, a big part of which are due to the hated GST (goods and services tax).

Anonymous 2336891439170985: She may have helped thousands of unfortunate children. But if the same amount of money which was given to her were to be given to Rafizi, I would have no doubt that Rafizi would have helped hundreds of thousand, not just thousands.

If Rafizi were to be free to travel on chartered flights, maybe he would have been able to help millions instead of thousands. All this is possible because he does not take donations from Arabs.

Abdul Kadir Jasin: I think an ordinary person helping one poor kid to go to school using his own money is nobler than a PM's wife who funded thousands of smart children using government funds.

Please don't take all Malaysians for fools.

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