KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 20 – Putrajaya should send a minister or ambassador as a representative of the prime minister abroad instead of Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor as she was not a member of the administration, a PAS lawmaker said today.

Pokok Sena MP Mahfuz Omar pointed out that US President Barack Obama had sent US Secretary of State John Kerry to represent him during his aborted visit to Malaysia, instead of sending his wife.

“The matter of the prime minister’s wife going on an official trip is one thing, but I question the need for the Cabinet to approve and authorise the prime minister’s wife to go on an official visit, it’s not just the issue of using the executive jet but what criteria and in what capacity did the prime minister’s wife’s go as to perform such state affairs,” he said.

On Monday, Putrajaya defended its decision to send Rosmah for a high-level business meeting overseas recently, a move critics said was inappropriate as the prime minister’s wife holds no government post.

Explaining, Minister in the Prime Minister Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim told the Dewan Rakyat that the Cabinet had agreed to Rosmah representing Malaysia at the 4th Qatar International Business Women Forum in Doha, Qatar, a week ago in a trip financed by taxpayers’ money.

He said there was nothing wrong with paying for Rosmah’s trip to Doha — where she had travelled using a state-owned private jet — as it was for “official business”.

Two opposition lawmakers later queried Shahidan if there was a law that allows the prime minister’s wife to represent Malaysia in foreign diplomatic affairs but the minister did not reply.