The sex video clip implicating Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali is not a moral issue, but a political problem, says Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, adding that he is not willing to be used in the issue.
The Prime Minister said that it would be dealt with as a political issue.
“It is obvious that the mastermind had bad intentions and is using dirty politics,” he said in a blog post on chedet.cc on Tuesday (July 23).
He said the video was made and circulated for political purposes, with the main reason being to block the political career of an individual.
“I can do this because I have the power. When this is done, those who masterminded this could be successful,” he said, without mentioning Azmin’s name.
Mahathir also said that his religion forbade him from snooping to expose the fault of others and what was done was worse than snooping.
Later in the afternoon, Mahathir told reporters said he wants the mastermind behind the sex video to be punished.
“If we can find them and identify those who actually produced this particular video and show it on the net, I think they should be punished.
“This is not the kind of politics that we want,” he said.
Asked if he knew the identity of the mastermind, whom the police described as the leader of a political party, the premier replied: “I am not the investigator.”
Mahathir also denied that he was defending Azmin when dismissing the sex video as fake even before the authorities completed their investigations.
“I am not defending him (Azmin),” he said, adding that his previous remarks were aimed at rejecting gutter politics.
Mahathir explained that his statements were to emphasise that he would not be trapped into being part of such political tactics.
Ironically, PKR president Anwar Ibrahim had accused Mahathir, during his first tenure as prime minister, of fabricating a sodomy charge to remove him as deputy premier in 1998.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg today reported the sex scandal to benefit Mahathir the most.
Citing three political analysts, the international news wire reported that Anwar’s political career will end if he is proven to be the mastermind while Azmin’s reputation will be dented as long as his name is tied to the videos while Mahathir as the Bersatu chairman who has distanced himself from the issue as internal to PKR, stands the most to gain.