Who will have the last laugh, Shahrizat? — The Malaysian Insider

February 05, 2012

FEB 5 — It is well within Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil’s right to assume that her party will be unscathed by the scandal of the year: the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) mess.

Heck, if she wants to keep some distance between herself as the Wanita Umno chief and her role as wife and mother of the chief actors in the NFC scandal, that too is her prerogative (though we doubt many of us buy that line).

But please don’t trivialise the losses of millions of taxpayers when a private company uses a government soft loan without any regard that such public funds must be used responsibly. Don’t make small the wanton abuse of taxpayers’ money to buy condominiums and what have you.
And this is precisely what the Wanita Umno chief is doing by that flippant gimmick of sending a baju kurung to someone she claims is her “stalker”.

Her whole tone appears to suggest that she thinks there is much ado about nothing.

Even after discounting the hyperbole of the Opposition, the NFC scandal is serious business. In addition to allegations of an irresponsible use of public funds and criminal breach of trust, there are also accusations of bribery, etc. One man is already in court while the public waits to see if the Attorney-General has stopped asking the police for more details of a case that has apparently been thoroughly investigated.

So believe all you want that Umno is untouched by the NFC, but please don’t insult the intelligence of Malaysians.

They are the ones who will decide if Umno deserves another vote to stay in power. Right now, Umno doesn’t have to wait till the cows come home to know people’s perception of the scandal.
She might joke about sending a baju kurung over to her foes but the joke could be on her in the long run.

Wanita Umno to give Rafizi wing’s trademark baju kurung, says Shahrizat

 KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 5 — Wanita Umno chief Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil today said she will send the wing’s trademark red and white baju kurung to her “stalker” in PKR, whom she joked wanted to assume her post.

In an apparent reference to Rafizi Ramli, who has led PKR’s attacks on Shahrizat and the National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp), the federal minister said the idea had been mooted by Perak Wanita Umno at a recent meeting.

“He will look good in red and white as he’s a little jambu (pretty boy). Wanita Umno will pack the red and white garments and send them to my stalker,” she told reporters at Hospital Kuala Lumpur here.

“I think this particular person aspires to be Wanita Umno chief, maybe because he’s a wannabe leader (but) his party doesn’t have many members. Wanita Umno has 1.3 million members so he can feel the strength.”

Shahrizat has been repeatedly linked to NFCorp because of her husband’s role as company chairman, and their children’s directorships in the same entity.

The RM250 million publicly-funded cattle-raising scheme was first coined a “mess” in an article in English daily The Star after it made it into the pages of the Attorney-General’s 2010 Report for badly missing production targets.

The term was later repeated by various media organisations to describe NFCorp after PKR launched a series of exposés to show that the project’s funds had been allegedly abused.
PKR, led by strategic director Rafizi, had claimed that RM27 million was used for land and property purchases as well as expenses unrelated to cattle farming by Shahrizat and her family.

The company’s assets were frozen after investigations were launched by the police and the national anti-graft body following the exposés.

Shahrizat returns to ministerial duties tomorrow after taking three weeks’ leave to allow the authorities to complete their probe.