Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor has defended her trip to Qatar using a government jet, saying it was for work purposes and not leisure, and everything had been done according to procedure.

"I do not expect people to thank me or be appreciative of the little effort which I have put it. But please stop looking for faults in others, or meddle in other people's affairs," the Prime Minister's wife told news portal the Malaysia Gazette over the weekend.

"And do not create stories because that is a major sin. I never talk bad about others. I never bad mouth the opposition."

Rosmah said that it was a common sight for the wives of world leaders to utilise their government's private jets for various factors, citing Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.

"What I do, I do because of Allah. Let them slander me, thrown accusations at me or smear my image."

Rosmah explained her reason for last month's trip to Qatar, Dubai, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh which had triggered uproar in parliament after PKR’s Gombak MP, Azmin Ali, had revealed that Rosmah had used a government jet for the trip.

"I was given the honour of presenting the keynote speech entitled 'The Empowerment of Malaysian Women' and was also honoured with an award," Rosmah said.

"I shared the success of Malaysian women with the international audience but ironically, while I was expressing Malaysia's pride, there were disgruntled voices at home."

While attending the 4th Qatar International Businesswomen forum, Rosmah said she paid her respects to Qatar’s Prime Minister, Sheikh Abdullah Nasser Khalifa Al-Thani, adding that when wives of other Prime Ministers visited Malaysia, they also did the same thing as it was courtesy.

She, however, evaded the issue of her not using commercial flights, saying it should not be an issue because everything that she did was always referred to the Cabinet for approval first.

"The facility of a government private jet existed before Datuk Seri Najib Razak became the Prime Minister," she said.

On her relationship with wives of foreign leaders, she said: "Without sounding boastful, my close relationships with the wives of other foreign leaders have at time proved advantageous for Malaysians."

At the recent Umno assembly, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak praised Rosmah’s work and highlighted in his winding-up speech two instances when Rosmah had helped Malaysia.

The first was when she contacted Suzanne Mubarak, wife of the then Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, in securing the release of a Malaysian student who was arrested on suspicion of being a spy.

The second was when Malaysian students were stranded in Egypt during the Arab uprising.

Najib said Rosmah had used her good relations with the Saudi Arabian royal family to allow the students to enter the country from Egypt although they did not have visas.

However, former New Straits Times group editor-in-chief Datuk A. Kadir Jasin said Najib should consider appointing his wife as Minister of Special Affairs as she seems to be adept at carrying out the duties of several ministers.