Pakatan lawmakers question funding for Malacca CM’s son’s wedding

By Md Izwan

October 02, 2012

 

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 2 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) lawmakers are questioning the funding of Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam’s son’s wedding banquet which was attended by a record 130,000 people over the weekend.

State news agency Bernama reported that the wedding banquet in Dewan Tun Ali Bukit Katil, Ayer Keroh in Malacca has entered the “Malaysia Book of Records” for the huge turnout.

But PR lawmakers says even at RM10 a head, the wedding banquet would cost RM1.3 million for food and beverage alone, far more than the long-serving chief minister’s salary. Mohd Ali (picture) has not responded to queries about the wedding banquet.

DAP Kota Laksamana assemblyman Betty Chew urged Mohd Ali to disclose if the banquet was funded by sponsors or family money.

“I want to congratulate the chief minister on his son’s wedding but I hope he can be transparent and reveal the cost,” she told The Malaysian Insider.

“The question that must be answered is the source of funding for the banquet; is it sponsored or paid personally,” she said.

Her DAP colleague, Taiping MP Nga Kor Ming, also raised the same question in his Twitter microblog account.

“Itu duit siapa? (Whose money is it?)” he asked
.
DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang also used his Twitter account to speculate the cost of the wedding, saying the banquet looked like it cost RM100 a person or potentially RM13 million just for the food.

But Malacca Umno executive secretary Datuk Akbar Ali responded to the DAP leaders’ tweets by saying they should not assume the wedding banquet was similar to a Chinese wedding dinner.

“Awak ingat ini jamuan makan malam 9 jenis seperti masyarakat Cina dengan sup sirip ikan yu. Ini cara kamu wujudkan fitnah. Ini orang yang sakit (You think this is a nine-course dinner like a Chinese dinner with shark’s fin soup. This is how you create lies. This is what makes people sick.)” Akbar wrote on his Twitter account.

The wedding banquet was for Mohd Ali’s son Mohd Ridhwan, 26, who married Nur Azieha Mohd Ali, also 26.

Among those who attended the banquet were the Selangor Sultan, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, Malacca Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Mohd Khalil Yaakob and Deputy Home Minister Datuk Abu Seman Yusop.