Malaysian Official Quits After Sex Tape
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
The Malaysian health minister, Chua Soi Lek, quit after he was secretly filmed having sex with a woman in a video distributed in the southern state of Johor.
Mr. Chua, 60, also stepped down immediately as a vice president of the Malaysian Chinese Association, the nation’s second-largest political party, and as a lawmaker for Labis in Johor, he said in a statement. Mr. Chua, who had held his Cabinet post since 2004, yesterday named himself as the man in the recording.
The release of the tape may be part of a power struggle within the Malaysian Chinese Association, a member of the country’s ruling coalition, according to the political opposition. Mr. Chua, married with three children, said yesterday it was “obvious” who made the tape and why, the New Straits Times reported yesterday.
“It is widely known” there are disagreements within the Malaysian Chinese Association, Lim Guan Eng, secretary-general of the opposition Democratic Action Party, said in a statement. Mr. Chua’s admission he was in the video was “brave,” Mr. Lim said.
Malaysia’s ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional, must call an election by early 2009, though some analysts have said Prime Minister Badawi may go to the polls early this year.
