Malaysia’s health minister quit his post today after DVDs were circulated showing him having sex with a woman he described as a “personal friend”. Chua Soi Lek who preached the virtues of fidelity in fighting HIV/AIDS, resigned a day after admitting that he was the man featured in two DVDs containing one hundred minutes of video footage. The assignation appeared to have been secretly filmed without Dr Chua’s knowledge, using four separate cameras concealed in a hotel room. Apart from the damage to Malaysia’s Government, it has raised concerns that it will scare off tourists, concerned about security and privacy in the country’s hotels. Chua, a former doctor who is married with three children, initially refused to resign after saying he had apologised to the Malaysian prime minister, Abdullah Badawi, and his family. “I would like to emphasise that I did not make the tape myself,” he said at his first press conference on Tuesday. “Who made this tape is not important any more. What is most important is that my family, wife and children have accepted my apology.”Malaysian newspapers reported that police are currently investigating the circumstances in which the two black-and-white recordings, one of 56 minutes and one of 44 minutes, were made. They were said to be two years old and appear to have been made in a hotel. “How is it that someone could easily enter a hotel room and install a camera?” Norizan Sharif, the head of a Malaysian NGO, said.“Of course, there is the possibility that they may have been aided by an insider but that remains to be seen. This could spark worry among hotel occupants like tourists, as installing a camera inside hotel rooms without the guests’ knowledge is invading one’s privacy.”

[Source: Associated Press]

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