Amid attacks for being caught with his eyes shut in Parliament, one of Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng’s children has come to his defence saying that the minister had been working on a hectic schedule.

Marcus Lim, who is Guan Eng’s third offspring, said his father had been hard at work trying to settle Malaysia’s debt problem and get the country back on track, but this came at the cost of getting adequate rest.

“To some, they may think that the position as finance minister is glamorous, but to me, I think it is a non-stop stress job for him.

“For the past six months, I have seen him working non-stop from 8am till 11pm, seven days a week. I don’t really know if he had a straight eight hours sleep since May this year. Sometimes he even skips lunch or dinner to attend meetings, or just to finish his pile of work in the office.

“During the recent pre-budget period, at times he only had less than three hours of sleep for the whole week. He worked with his team till late at night and had to overnight in the office to prepare his first budget.

"He wants to ensure that everybody will have benefited even though they have only limited fund,” he said in a Facebook post today.

Marcus was responding to a jibe by Keterah MP Annuar Musa, who tweeted a picture of Guan Eng in his seat in Parliament with his eyes shut.

“BN's shadow finance minister is debating Budget 2019 and presenting the... alternative budget. The minister of finance is sleeping...,” he said.

Guan Eng had responded on Twitter that he was in fact still listening to the Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin’s speech, but needed to rest his eyes. 

“My eyes were kurang sihat (unwell) just like in the previous Parliament session, but I still attended to hear the opposition representative (Umno's Rembau MP) Khairy Jamaluddin's speech,” he said on Twitter posting, which is accompanied with a picture of notes he took during Khairy’s speech.

Marcus said although many have criticised his father over the photo, he is instead proud of him.

“To me, he will always be a hero in my heart.

“Here, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the opposition for posting this picture to enable everyone to know that my dad is working extremely hard for the country,” he said.

He added that he once tried to follow his father on his daily schedule, and was completely worn out by the end of the day.

“Many people would ask me why my dad, despite his hecticness, managed to look fresh all the time. I still could not figure out how but believe his passion for the people and country that keeps him motivated always.

“Despite my mum's advice for him to slow down, he will still work as hard because he thinks the sooner the welfare of the people and country improved, the country will be back on track soon,” he said.

Despite his defence, however, Marcus’ Facebook post also attracted much criticism against him and his father.

On Facebook user going by the handle Alex PM remarked that his logic would mean the fifth prime minister of Malaysia, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, was the most hardworking prime minister and MP.

Badawi had attributed his sleep problems to sleep apnea.

Another Facebook user, Anis Diana, pointed to the ringgit’s depreciation against the US dollar and said: “Working hard for the country? Tell me which investor (is) coming since (Guan Eng) became minister of finance?”

However, some netizens also came to Guan Eng’s defence.

“To those who are commenting, as if you don’t sleep during work. And you guys will take a medical certificate for heaven’s sake. It can’t be that you never slept on the job, don’t lie,” said Facebook user Didi Gump Eddie.