Malaysia's health minister resigns over sex video scandal
Posted: 02 January 2008 1603 hrs

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KUALA LUMPUR : Malaysia's health minister resigned from his cabinet post on Wednesday after admitting his role in a video showing him having sex with a female friend in a hotel room.

Chua Soi Lek, 61, the most senior member of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's government to resign after a sex scandal, announced that he was also stepping down from parliament.

"I won't be the first and I won't be the last (politician to be caught in such a situation)," Chua, a married man with three children, told a hastily convened news conference.

"It is up to the public to judge me," he added.

Chua admitted on Tuesday that he was in the video, which has been splashed on the front pages of Malaysian newspapers since the DVD started circulating in southern Johor state last week.

Chua is the vice president of the Malaysian Chinese Association, a key part of Abdullah's coalition government.

He said his family was fully supportive of his decision and admitted that the scandal was taking a toll. "I live in a very close-knit family, but I am confident that my family will support me," he added.

The video is believed to have been taken from closed-circuit television and was recorded two years ago, according to the state news agency Bernama.

Chua met Abdullah on Monday to discuss the situation, Bernama said, and it was decided then that he had to go public with his identity.

The resignation will hit Abdullah's government. He is expected to announce general elections this year although his administration's mandate runs until May 2009.

Sex scandals among politicians are not uncommon in Malaysia, with several members of the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) having been forced to resign in recent years.

Defiant to the last, Chua drew a line between his public and private life, refusing to comment on the incident portrayed in the tape.

"If you want to discuss my private life, please do," he told reporters at his press conference. "Maybe you would like to watch the videotape with me."


- AFP/ms/so