YOURSAY | 'They can go to the moon for all we care if they use their own money.'

Najib and son were spending quality time, says Rosmah’s aide

Anonymous #44199885: No one begrudges the PM for spending quality time with his family but as he expects us, the rakyat, to tighten our belts and the whole government to be financially prudent and austere he should have done the same.

Money for scholarships, research and to feed the poor is either not there or has seen drastic reductions. So it is only right that the rakyat expect the PM does not burden the budget with expenditures that are avoidable like zipping across Australia in a government jet.

Goonie: They can go to the moon for all we care if they use their own money.

Old timer: The PM and his family are spending quality time at taxpayers' expense. What about the taxpayers who are facing rising cost of living, low exchange rate for ringgit and literally can't afford to spend quality time with their families?

Are the rakyat less human than PM or less important that they don't deserve quality time?

Josie: "President Obama's personal travel expenses have totaled more than US$85 million. Last year’s jaunt to Hawaii cost US$4.8 million, according to Judicial Watch, which bases the estimates on information from Freedom of Information Act requests and factors such as the cost of aircraft fuel, among other things".

The source of this information is an NGO called Judicial Watch. Obama combines work with his vacation. Last year he met with Prime Minister Abe of Japan in Honolulu.

Obama travels with his family for his holidays and Najib is entitled to his holiday. I am sure if public funds are used that would be audited and published.

Fairnsquare: This idiot of an aide does not seem to realise that it is not the holiday that the rakyat are concerned about. In fact we fully agree that the PM should spend quality time with his family.

The question is: Should it be done lavishly at the expense of the taxpayers, at a time when the rakyat are struggling with mounting prices, sliding ringgit and kleptocracy seems to be order of the day.

Please address the right issues and do deviate from the issues at hand. He cannot expect the 1MDB issue to go away.

He must come clean and let the rakyat decide once and for all if they are willing to accept his "mistakes" and move on or this will forever haunt him and all his incapable ministers failing miserably to keep the truth from the rakyat.

Doc: If Prime Minister Najib is working seven days a week, 355 days a year yet the Malaysian economy is in free fall, the Malaysian financial system is at the brink of going bust, the ringgit is sliding and sliding for the last one year and the inflation rate is skyrocketing.

When the rakyat mentions his name in a sentence, it usually ends with curses at the end of the sentence. International media of repute paint him as a kleptomaniac while international leaders avoid him like a plague. His administration is disaster and the rakyat is suffering as a result of him being PM.

So Rizal, is it safe to say that if Najib is working so hard but the outcome of his PM-ship is a disaster for the nation. This could mean two things: Najib is an ineffective PM or he is a 100 percent certified moron.

Politician: Quality time my foot! And at what cost? You can spend all the quality time with whoever you want for all we care, but please do it on your own expense and not using taxpayers' money.

The country is also facing a financial crisis and we expect the PM to set good examples like going for holiday locally using your own money. This plan to go to Australia, using government jet, paid for by taxpayers and boasting about it on Instagram is going overboard

This is totally unacceptable, more so with the recent 20 sen hike in fuel price less than three months after a 5 sen reduction. It's like telling the rakyat, we don't care about what you say and we are going ahead with our plans. What sort of a government is this?

We have a PM who goes on holiday, draws flak and attempts to neutralise critics by sending the wife's PA to tell a sob story about how the son misses the father and yearns for quality time together.

There are thousands of children who yearn for such time with their dads but can't make it.

Kawak: The government is slashing budgets for many ministries, government departments and universities due to dwindling national revenue. Government agencies such as the Inland Revenue Board and Customs Department are stepping up efforts to collect more taxes from the rakyat.

Rizal Mansor, your boss and family can go for holidays anywhere they want but why do it at the expense of taxpayers' hard earned money?

In hard times, partly due to the 1MDB debacle, where the MO1 is fully responsible, he should sacrifice by holidaying at home like Joko Widodo, the president of Indonesia. The problem is MO1 thinks the government coffers belong to him.

Headhunter: Sure, why wouldn't anyone be not happy using rakyat's money and first class government facilities for their family holidays while the rest of us have to pay for them?

What most of us want to know is how much do we have to pay for their family's quality time?

Susahkes: MO1 works seven days a week? You don't say! Why, that might explain why his Dewan Rakyat attendance is "record setting", doesn't it?

But I'm also equally puzzled: If he works as hard as you want us to believe, then how come MO1 is blissfully unaware of the millions that went into his private account? By his own admission, he doesn't know what he signs, though it involves taxpayers' billions.

But Rizal, I want you to also know this: There are also other Malaysians who work seven days a week. Just ask those who double up by driving for Uber or selling nasi lemak. They, unlike MO1, couldn't afford getaway trips because MO1's tenure has seen the worse currency performance to date, in the history of the nation.

Get back down to earth, jet-setting PM told

Anonymous_1407296764: Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau spent his December holidays with His Highness Prince Karim, the Aga Khan spiritual leader of the Ismaili Muslims in Bahamas. He is repaying the Canadian taxpayers for using the government jet. Please Google it.

Hornbill: I fully support what the Kuala Terengganu MP has said. Someone who never faced hardship in his younger days will not understand the struggle of the common people. MO1 not only misappropriated funds from 1MDB, he is now using the rakyat's money to enjoy his holidays overseas.

Nobody would quarrel with the PM if he used his own money and public airline to go on holidays. The security argument is flawed because other leaders of other country use commercial airlines without any security problems.

The government plane belongs to the people of Malaysia, and to be used by the PM only for official purposes. If this rule applies to civil servants, then it should equally apply to the PM. He should set a good example to the younger generation.

YHJ: Is this the way Malaysia rewards a PM who has saddled the nation with billions of debt? The PM who refused to take responsibility for the damage to the country's image and economy should have stepped down before it is too late.

But then I can understand why he cannot afford to do so. He must stay on to protect his own interests.

JBond: A kleptocrat definitely is in constant danger of the rakyat attacking him in the airports, I guess he has to be extra careful. Otherwise, he may have to go visit his old man pretty soon. The rakyat are more distressed by the day with his crooked ways.

Anonymous Hotplate: Najib is not to be blamed. This lavish life is offered to him by the hollow-brained Umno members and Umno MPs whose brains are stepped on by Najib and Rosmah under their feet.

BN can go on eating 'dedak' and let their brains be controlled by Najib and Rosmah while they go on enjoying life to the fullest. Umno has become immune to 'dedak' while Najib and Rosmah have become immune to not bothering about the nation and the people.

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