ANOTHER SEX SCANDAL BREWING?
He makes police report after SMS messages say he will quit his posts like a minister caught in sex video scandal did
By Teo Cheng Wee, The Straits Times
ANOTHER video sex scandal seems to be brewing in Malaysia, apparently involving another top politician.
Deputy Education Minister Wee Ka Siong, who is from the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), lodged a police report last Friday over text messages being circulated about him.
The short-message service (SMS) texts said he would have to quit his posts by October 'just as Dr Chua' did - a reference to former health minister Chua Soi Lek, who resigned from his posts after being caught in a sex videotape.
The allegations involve a student from China, whom Datuk Wee helped to settle a financial problem a few years ago, according to the New Straits Times daily yesterday.
But Dr Wee, also the MCA Youth's secretary-general, denies any involvement in a sex scandal and blamed it on the 'media's imagination'.
He said the 'SMS does not mention anything about sex scandal', The Star newspaper said.
Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussein jumped to Dr Wee's defence, saying slander and allegations were to be expected in the run-up to the MCA internal elections in October.
Datuk Seri Hishammuddin said no one is to take action, make a stand or punish another based on unfounded allegations.
The text messages have been circulating since July 22, predicting that the scandal would force Dr Wee to resign from all his posts in government and the MCA.
One message reads: 'To whom it may concern: Countdown 90 days. Dr Wee Ka Siong will resign from all the posts by 20 Oct 2008 just as Dr Chua.'
Dr Wee has denied the allegations, declaring to the media: 'I am sure of my innocence.'
He said the text messages were an attempt to tarnish his image and linked it to the run-up to the MCA's divisional elections last week. He won the Johor Bahru division chief's post uncontested on Sunday.
Johor police said they would investigate the matter.
But it is unclear whether the scandal will affect his political aspirations, said Centre for Public Policy Studies director Tricia Yeoh.
'It's too early to tell whether this will be detrimental to his career. We can't base everything on an SMS. There are too many question marks,' she told The Straits Times.
Observers within the party also questioned the timing of the SMSes.
'It has everything to do with the fact that elections are coming,' an aide to a senior MCA official told The Straits Times yesterday.
'He is the current youth secretary-general and he was likely to be going for the MCA Youth chief post.'
Dr Wee claims to know the identity of the person who circulated the messages. Without naming names, he fingered the person who swindled the money from the unnamed Chinese student he helped in 2002.
'I believe this person has been nursing a grudge against me since that incident,' he said.
Wee: No truth in China girl sex link SMS
PUTRAJAYA: Deputy Education Minister Dr Wee Ka Siong has strongly denied a newspaper report linking him to a sex scandal and named the person whom he thinks has been sending threatening SMSes about him.
“I have to make it clear that there is no girl involved. It was her parents who came to the MCA to ask for help.
“This is why I am disappointed with the newspaper report as this does not reflect the content of the SMS received by MCA leaders,” he told a press conference after the ministry’s post-Cabinet meeting.
He was commenting on a newspaper report yesterday alleging that he had been involved with a student from China whom he had helped several years ago.
Dr Wee said he made a police report last Friday on SMSes being circulated among MCA leaders and elected representatives which implied that he would resign from all posts within 90 days like former health minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek did on Oct 20 last year.
“Although the sender wrote Dr Chua, he didn’t write which one and there are many Dr Chuas. When I saw the newspaper report mentioning a sex scandal, it was sensationalism by the newspaper as nothing in the SMS mentions a sex scandal,” he said, adding that he had discussed the matter with his lawyers.
“The SMS was sent on July 22 which was the nomination period, so I assume it’s linked to the party polls but I do not know his connection to the party. He just wants to tarnish my name but I am not nervous,” he said.
He also named a CEO of an education firm as the sender of the SMS.
“In the police report I asked the police to investigate if it was really that person as anyone could have signed his name in an SMS but I understand from the police that he said he had done it.
“That’s why I am brave enough to name him,” he said.
He also provided the background into the matter, saying that it was the student’s (Wu Ning Yu) father (Wu Hong Chun) who had sought help from the MCA Public Services and Complaints Department.
Dr Wee, who is also MCA Youth secretary-general, said that department head Datuk Michael Chong wrote him a note asking him to help as Wu had been cheated of RM100,000 for his daughter’s education.
He explained that the CEO was the one who had cheated Wu as he had used the name of a foundation to accept the money.
“When I exposed this in 2002, the foundation said it was not involved and sent the father a letter saying that they ould do nothing as they didn’t have the money,” he said.
He said he had known the CEO for more than 15 years as he had been a good debater at a university where he (Dr Wee) had been asked to act as a judge.
Dr Wee also advised people not to resort to unscrupulous actions.
In Johor, state police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Mohd Mokhtar Mohd Shariff said police were investigating the matter and that he had ordered the Johor CID chief Senior Assistant Comm II Amer Awal to wrap up the investigation as soon as possible and forward the report to the deputy public prosecutor.
He also said that the case has been classified under Section 500 of the Penal Code for Punishment for Defamation.
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