PM away on overseas holiday on N-Day? NR1 aka November Romeo 1!

While the nation marked the twin festivities of Aidilfitri and National Day on Wednesday, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has been conspicuously missing out on the celebrations and was last spotted on Aug 30 at the Istana Negara for the royal Hari Raya Open House event.

The premier issued a National Day statement through Facebook and Twitter the next day.

In his tweet, Najib urged Malaysians not to forget the struggles of our forefathers in fighting for the country's independence and wished everyone a "Happy 54th Merdeka Day".

At a time when opposition leaders are criticised for being unpatriotic for allegedly questioning the role of certain national heroes, Najib has opened himself to attack by being away on an overseas holiday on an auspicious day such as National Day.

In an email yesterday, a Malaysiakini reader said he believes that the premier is currently in Perth, Australia since a private jet meant for the prime minister landed there on Wednesday, Aug 31. The reader, who contacted Malaysiakini, based his theory on reports that Najib was in Australia on two websites that logged photographs and times of aircraft arrivals at the Perth International Airport.

 

Najib's aides, when contacted, declined to reveal the prime minister's exact whereabouts during National Day or whether he is indeed currently overseas.
 

An aide said Najib was on holiday and would be back next week like everyone else while Najib's press secretary Tengku Sariffudin Tengku Ahmad merely replied, "He is on leave" three times, when asked whether the prime minister was in the country or in Australia.

According to the AviationWA website, an Airbus A319-11X bearing the registration number 9M-NAA and  sporting the 1Malaysia symbol as the tail logo landed at 5.04pm on Wednesday.

The plane had departed from Changi International Airport, Singapore.

AviationWA reports that aircraft stayed overnight and used the call-sign "November Romeo 1" or NR1. Incidentally, they are similar to the premier's initials.

Both AviationWA and the Perth Airport Spotter's blog report that this is the first visit of the plane to Perth.

The aircraft belongs to Jet Premier One (M) Sdn Bhd that is believed to be a subsidiary of Penerbangan Malaysia Bhd (PMB), which is in turn owned by government investment arm Khazanah Nasional Bhd.

Back in 2007, Najib's predecessor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi denied that his administration had bought the plane for RM200 million and stated that the purchase of the plane was purely a decision of PMB.