Malaysian youth leader resigns over sex scandal

Malaysian youth leader resigns over sex scandal

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): A key official of Malaysia's governing
party who has allegedly been embroiled in a sex scandal with a
minor has resigned from all political and government posts, Prime
Minister Mohamad Mahathir announced yesterday.

Rahim Thamby Chik, leader of the youth wing of Mahathir's
United Malays National Organization (UMNO), submitted his letter
of resignation before Mahathir left on Sept. 27 on a visit to
Turkey, Jordan and Turkmenistan, the premier said.

Mahathir told Malaysian journalists at the end of his visit to
Turkmenistan that Rahim's letter would be submitted to the UMNO
supreme council, scheduled to meet in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow.

"I will submit Rahim's letter to the council and it will be
decided whether to accept or reject the resignation," Mahathir
was reported by Bernama news agency as saying.

Political analysts here said it was almost certain Rahim's
resignation would be accepted because the allegations had deeply
embarrassed the Mahathir-led National Front ruling coalition at a
time when a general election is expected to be called very soon.

Mahathir said he had been compelled to make the announcement
in Turkmenistan due to the "latest development in the UMNO youth
(movement)."

UMNO's senior officials in Malacca had called on Mahathir to
drop Rahim from the next general election, saying he could be a
liability to the party if renominated as a candidate.

"We are compelled to make this decision because we do not want
to see UMNO crumble in Malacca," Asari Ibrahim, Malacca UMNO
youth chief said.

Speculation has been rife that Mahathir could call for snap
polls as early as next month, even though the 15-member National
Front's five-year mandate expired only in October 1995.

The sex scandal began hogging the front pages of local
newspapers in late August after the Utusan Malaysia newspaper,
with close links to Malaysia's ruling elite, reported that Rahim
was about to quit.

Innocence

Mahathir had openly refused to back the flamboyant 44-year-old
youth chief despite Rahim's public protestations of innocence.

On Sept. 8, Rahim was forced to temporarily relinquish his
post as UMNO youth leader and as chief minister of southwestern
Malacca state until a government-ordered probe was completed into
his alleged sexual liaison with a 15-year-old schoolgirl.

He has since then taken leave to await the outcome of the
probe. Police said Rahim would be questioned soon to help them
wrap up their investigations.

Rahim was in the spotlight in 1984 when he was sued by a young
Malaysian girl for breach of promise to marry. The suit was later
withdrawn, lawyers and party officials said.

The latest scandal comes against a backdrop of moral anguish
in Malaysia as the country industrializes rapidly.

The country's Moslem clergy have launched a campaign against
sexual promiscuity amongst young women, and have warned of
imposing a kind of curfew against teenage girls loafing on the
streets after dark.