Padang Rengas MP enjoys France with family while Malaysians stuck in COVID crisis

Padang Rengas MP Nazri Aziz in France with his son. Photo: Haflin Nazri Aziz/Instagram
Padang Rengas MP Nazri Aziz in France with his son. Photo: Haflin Nazri Aziz/Instagram

Malaysians are riled up over photos of Padang Rengas member of parliament Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz traveling to France with his wife and son while the country remains under a long-drawn-out lockdown due to COVID-19. 

His wife Haflin Saiful has been showing photos of their trip on her Instagram account in recent days but the matter exploded on Twitter today after Haflin addressed critics online for accusing the family of using taxpayers’ money to fund the trip Nazri had said was to enroll his five-year-old son to school. 

“YOU voted the failed PH government in PRU14. Since 2018 I was NO longer a Cabinet Minister. I was not charged in the courts for any act of corruption and abuse of power. How is it that I can use rakyat’s money to spend in France? Tell ME. – Nazri Aziz,” Haflin quoted her husband as saying in a series of Instagram posts. Nazri does not have an Instagram account. 

Nazri served as a cabinet minister from 1995 until his party lost to the Pakatan Harapan coalition in 2018. He had been the MP for the Padang Rengas constituency in Padang Rengas since 2004. The #PadangRengas hashtag was used nearly 20,000 times on Twitter today. 

Haflin had been showing off photos of her family in France since a week ago, including pictures of them visiting her mother’s grave. Their trip was made possible even though Malaysians have not been able to leave the country because of the coronavirus.  

Another post shared by Haflin showed her quoting her husband boasting about the support he had been getting from Padang Rengas residents as proof that he cared for his supporters.  

The caption said: “I was elected as MP for Padang Rengas in 1995. I have since contested in the constituency for six terms UNDEFEATED with a comfortable majority. 80% of voters are Malays, Muslim and Village folks. So don’t teach me how to serve and work for my rakyat in PADANG RENGAS. NOT for you and I DON’T care – Nazri Aziz.”

Screenshots of Haflin’s posts were shared with 14,000 members of the Padang Rengas online group.

“Padang Rengas mafia, of course, six terms. Tomorrow the senior voters pass on and the younger voters will rise, we’ll see whether you will still be the MP or not,” someone said online in Malay with a GIF of a grooving Joker.

“Padang Rengas MP guys. Enjoying in France guys. [Remember], guys! Remember this meme,” another named Wayne Chuah said while using the Spongebob Squarepants meme.

“Padang Rengas, stop choosing the wrong representative for the people. OMG, the attitude is so bad,” a post by the group Free Palestine said in Malay, including screenshots of a chat exchange believed to be with Haflin, who allegedly taunted someone to unfollow her on social media.

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