KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 5 — The government jet reserved for the prime minister’s official use had remained in the US after Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s recent trip to Hawaii two weeks ago due to technical issues, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has said following allegations of power abuse and nepotism.
Critics, including from the establishment, had questioned Najib’s return home from his recent holiday abroad without the VVIP jet, with some suggesting it had been left behind in the US for his family’s use.
In a statement to former News Straits Times editor Datuk A Kadir Jasin, the PMO confirmed that Najib returned home via a Hong Kong commercial flight where he was “picked up” by the Royal Malaysian Air Force and then headed straight to Kota Baru, Kelantan.
“This arrangement came about as the aircraft which the PM and his family used to travel to Hawaii had to stay behind in the United States to sort out some technical issues,” PMO said in a statement which was published by Kadir in the comment section of his blog.
It is understood that the PMO’s response came about as a follow-up to a blog posting by Kadir titled “As the country floods, PM golfs in Hawaii”, in reference to news reports and photographs depicting Najib on the green with US President Barack Obama on Christmas Eve.
“The aircraft had not stayed behind for used (sic) by PM’s family members. Also, they are not in Indianapolis,” the statement added.
Accusations that the government’s VIP jet had remained behind in the US for use by Najib’s family came about after the PM returned back to Malaysia on a Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) transport plane instead of the government plane.
Najib cut short his scheduled trip to the US following an on-going flood crisis that swamped nine states in peninsular Malaysia and displaced nearly a quarter million people at its height.
