By AUDREY EDWARDS

PUTRAJAYA: Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek described his move to national politics as a mistake and blamed his downfall on his commitment to his work as Health Minister.

“My biggest political mistake ever since coming to Kuala Lumpur is that I thought I should fulfil my obligations as Health Minister and as (MCA) vice-president,” he said.

The 60-year-old former Health Minister said the job required him to travel around the country to know about hospitals and medical facilities and for people to know him because he was a new face in national politics.

He was speaking to reporters in between packing his files and other belongings at his office here Thursday.

Final hour: Dr Chua packing up his belongings at his Health Ministry office yesterday, one day after resigning as minister.

Between 1986 and 2004, he was a state assemblyman and became a Johor state exco member in 1990.

Dr Chua announced his resignation as minister on Wednesday after admitting that he was the man in a sex DVD which had been widely circulated in Johor.

He said his job required him to meet party members.

“I travel and there has been a lot of speculation that I have a political agenda, that I am a very ambitious old man. That, I think, was my biggest mistake.

“And this was made worse by the press. The press will always say 'Dr Chua is one who may be mounting a challenge against the deputy president, against the president'. The press helped to ‘kill me’ in that sense.”

Asked who was suspicious of him, he simply said there were those who would gain.

Dr Chua said the police had recorded his statement.

He said he did not know who was behind the taping and DVDs and the police were having “great difficulties” with regards to the video.

He said he was told the video was made between six and eight months ago.

Dr Chua said he was proud that in the three and a half years as Health Minister, he had visited more than 100 hospitals and over 50 health facilities.

“I was shocked (to learn) when I went to some hospitals, which had been in existence for more than 30 years, that no one had ever visited them.

“I thought they were joking. There are a lot of health facilities like those in Batu Road, Sentul and Wangsa Maju which had not been visited by a single politician since the 1960s,” he added.

Dr Chua had some parting advice to future health ministers: “Please go slow. If you go too fast, you will also be subject to speculation.

“This is political reality, so I agree with some people that it is the Ministry of Hell, not because of the ministry’s work but because of the political system that we have.

“When you work too hard, people think you are ambitious or have a political agenda.”

Dr Chua said that Thursday, he became a retiree.

He said he started his day at 7.30am instead of his usual 6am, which was normally followed by exercise at 6.30am. He had breakfast with his wife and children.

“This morning when I had breakfast, I told my children that they would have to bear some of the expenses in the house,” he said, adding that they were staying with him.

He would not appeal for corporate positions, as it was not in his character to do so.

Asked whether he would take a holiday, he said he would not because what he was facing was not a “heartbreaking thing”.

“I think it is wrong to say that when you are upset, you should go on a holiday. This is the wrong prescription. As far as I am concerned, I am not upset,” he said.

Saying that he had already “stripped himself naked to all Malaysians”, Dr Chua said of his move to resign: “What more do they want? They cannot possibly ask for my head because the Malaysian political struggle is not do-or-die as in some countries.”

Dr Chua said he was working out a plan on how to thank all party members.

“I should be travelling the whole country to thank them because they unexpectedly got caught in this resignation.

“However, they must understand that if I travel now, I have to use all my expenses. I do not even know how to book a ticket. I do not even know how to book a hotel (room).

“That is okay by me. I take it in my stride. That is part of life. I will move on to the next phase. There is life after politics after all,” he said.