Dr Mahathir has reiterated his support for Azmin, saying the economic affairs minister need not resign over a gay sex video allegedly featuring him.
Minister of Economic Affairs Azmin Ali, implicated in sex video scandal, continues to have the support of the Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Mahathir said there was no need for Azmin to resign, as resigning over a forged scandal was not the way of Malaysia.
“There is no necessity (for him to go) simply because people in another country do this.
“I know in one country if a plane crashes in an airfield the minister of transport resigns or throw himself out of a building,” he said.
“But it is not our way,” he told media at the sidelines after attending the Asia Oil and Gas Conference in Kuala Lumpur.
He was responding to his right-hand man and Bersatu Supreme Council member Kadir Jasin who had suggested that the minister embroiled in a scandal should resign.
While Kadir did not go into the specifics of the video, he went on to provide international examples of ministers who have resigned.
He cited episodes in India, Canada and Britain where leaders implicated in sexual scandals had stepped down.
“This was a deliberate attempt to affect the future of Azmin. I don’t think he is so stupid to do that and get caught in pictures like that,” said Mahathir, who is also Bersatu chairperson.
He said people can do miracles in the electronic age by faking images.
“While we have done away with the (Anti-)Fake News Act, sometimes we feel somebody must take action against these fake news,” he said.
Former secretary to Deputy Primary Industries Minister Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin, Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz has confessed that he was the man in the video and his partner was Azmin.
Haziq further alleged that the video was secretly filmed during the Sandakan by-election this year.
Azmin, who is also PKR deputy president, has brushed aside the sex video and called it a nefarious plot to destroy his political career.
Nonetheless, the clips sparked calls for Azmin to resign or to go on leave over the scandal.
PKR president Anwar Ibrahim has said the party will not question Azmin over the video, describing the whole episode as “gutter politics”.
“We are not interested to question or discuss the content. This is also the decision adopted by the disciplinary committee.
“I don’t think it’s fair at this juncture to question him during this difficult time,” he said.
On Sunday, in an exclusive interview with The Star, Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz challenged Azmin to take legal action if the Economic Affairs Minister was confident of his own innocence.
To this, Anwar said it was “purely a decision by Azmin and his counsel to make”.
“I don’t think it is proper for me to intervene. But I will convey my personal views from time to time,” he said.