The False Redemption Of Shahrizat Jalil

The NFC Saga continues its damage of UMNO and BN's chances of securing a convincing win in the coming General Election despite the departure of DS Shahrizat Jalil from her cabinet post. Even Rafizi Ramli, the unlikely whistleblower of the scandal, acknowledges this through his gleeful tweets over the course of the weekend - if Shahrizat's departure was to bring the NFC scandal to a close, Rafizi's behavior would have been more subdued.

Some weeks ago this blogger blogged on how the NFC, and substantially the complicity of Shahrizat as a Cabinet member and UMNO Wanita Chief in the wrong-doings, would have an effect on the General Election. One may imagine that with Shahrizat no longer being in the cabinet that the matter is resolved, but truly it is not. As the issue of credibility remains a stain unerased, just as Shahrizat is not really out of the corridors of power.

The salient point that needs to be discussed first is, does Shahrizat remaining as Wanita Chief affect its capability to deliver votes in the coming PRU13? Answers this blogger gained from 2 separate government agencies is that it has a very negative impact on Wanita's effectiveness as a critical component of BN's election machinery. As with its leader seen as being so morally bankrupt, Wanita losses its credibility.

In fact, Wanita risks not just losing its credibility, but also its unity, as pro and anti-Shahrizat factions jostle around the future of their disgraced Chief. And with loss of unity, Wanita will surely disintegrate into parts of which the sum of cannot compare to the sheer effectiveness of a one united party wing. Indeed, Wanita UMNO may even struggle with the question of relevance of Shahrizat's continued leadership is allowed to further stain its reputation.

The reality is that Shahrizat may have been spared any suspicion even if her husband was not simply accused but was then successfully prosecuted for Criminal Breach of Trust in the handling of the NFC initiative. Many, even world leaders, have suffered errant husbands in the past. Even when it is revealed she did not block the involvement of her children as paid managers of NFC, Shahrizat could still have been painted with a shade innocence.

However, any illusion of innocence was completely shattered when she used her highest party platform, the 2011 Annual General Assembly of Wanita UMNO, to defend her husband and children and their suspected corruption of the NFC. It was said that her defence was so emotional, that she could not finish more than half of the prepared text, or more importantly, failed to convey the priorities of Wanita UMNO coming into a likely election year.

So Shahrizat over the course of one UMNO AGM speech, personified all that is wrong about the party today. She showcased how the power and position afforded to her by the party could and was willingly used to defend and perhaps indeed enhance private interests. And in her selfishness which is more reflective of a lioness protecting her cubs than a leader staying above the fray, she pushed Wanita to the edge of a precipice, where it remains.

So many lauded Shahrizat's announcement that she was 'withdrawing' from her Cabinet post some weeks ago. This was of course Shahrizat at her politically most cunning, where she pre-empts being naturally 'dropped' from her post when her Senate tenure was up, allowing her then to attempt to selfishly cling to the more important Wanita UMNO Chief post. And so she clings on with claws that tear fresh wounds into Wanita.

However, it is not the population of pre-independence Malaya that Shahrizat is trying to convince that she is redeemed with her fake 'withdrawal'. Almost every educated person this blogger met following the news expressed disgust at how Shahrizat's 'withdrawal' was lauded by even the TPM as a 'sacrifice' - it was probably one of the worst pieces of media-spinning since the Pulau Batu Putih win-win nonsense! All EXPECTED Shahrizat to be dropped anyway.

That DS Najib as Prime Minister was compelled to take on the Women Affairs Family and Community Development Ministry rather than appoint another Wanita leader to the post is testament to how dire things look for Wanita UMNO now. Battle lines are clearly drawn with unity being threatened, with Shahrizat accusing those who simply want her to do the right thing; i.e. resign. But Shahrizat doesn't dare to resign, as in the end, she's no leader.

If Shahrizat was a true leader, she would do the right thing without the asking. She would have resigned the moment she saw that, as evident to everyone else, something was wrong with the way the NFC was run. In fact, if she was a leader she may even have asked her husband to stay away from the NFC. Certainly as a leader and a responsible mother, she should have kept her children well away from the NFC, which is NOT a family concern!

Well, as it should be abundantly clear to Wanita that it doesn't really have a Leader as its current Chief, rather than suffer further and longer to the point of obliteration due to 'Shahrizat's False Redemption', its true leaders should step up and shove Shahrizat out! The Wanita exco can certainly call for a no-confidence vote, and should do so before someone in the Supreme Council musters the guts to do so. It is the right thing to do.

For in the absence of a true Leader as its Chief, Wanita has to move quickly to redeem itself among its stakeholders, especially all the women that are its constituents in the electorate. It is the right thing to do. And that is what Leaders are chosen to do, to DO THE RIGHT THING.

Macam Mana Nak Terbang Kalau Sayap Cacat

Dalam masa kehangatan pertandingan pemilihan UMNO 2008, Tan Sri Tunku Ahmad Rithaudeen telah mencadangkan agar sayap Pemuda dan Puteri UMNO dibubarkan kerana pada hemah beliau, kelemahan akibat rasuah pada UMNO berputik dari pertandingan jawatan kedua-dua sayap ini. Bidasan kembali yang sering jurublog dengari dari para perwakilan Pemuda pada masa itu adalah,"Kalau tak dak sayap, macam mana nak terbang?"

Alhamdulillah, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil bakal berundur dari jawatan Menteri sejurus tamat tempoh senator beliau. Namun saya rasa kecewa yang beliau merasakan ini suatu kompromi yang adil bagi membolehkannya kekal sebagai Ketua Wanita UMNO. Mana boleh macam ni. Kedudukan beliau sekarang begitu cacat sekali sebagai pemimpin yang sedia menggunakan pentas parti serta kerajaan untuk mempertahankan kecacatan moral suaminya dalam pengendalian amanah dana RM250 Juta NFC.

Datuk Seri Shahrizat, sebagai seorang pemimpin yang antara paling kanan dalam parti, seharusnya sedia mengorbankan nyawa politiknya demi masa depan parti, bukan mencari jalan untuk terus hidup di tampuk kuasa sementara sayap Wanita parti terus tercacat sama nama baiknya atas kehadiran beliau yang berterusan sebagai Ketua! Kesediaan beliau melakukan demikianlah baru akan memulihkan balik nama baiknya sendiri dan membantu memperbaiki kredibiliti parti UMNO serta BN menjelang PRU13.

Datuk Seri Shahrizat tak perlu menenung jauh. Lihat sahaja sayap Pemuda yang masih lagi dibebani seorang Ketua perasuah. Walaupun KJ dan para penyokongnya kelihatan begitu giat memulihkan namanya, namun pemantauan terkini yang diarahkan oleh beliau sendiri menunjukkan ahli-ahli Pemuda pun masih sangsi dan kemungkinan besar akan memilih tokoh lain untuk memilih Pemuda di masa hadapan. Walau KJ berkorban untuk menjadi contoh dengan menyertai Wataniah sekalipun, ditertawakan sebagai 'main askar'!

Apatah lagi rakyat luar yang hauskan bukti tegar kredibiliti UMNO dan Barisan Nasional untuk memunahkan rasuah dari perjalanan kerja kerajaan?

Datuk Seri Shahrizat patut berundur juga dari semua jawatan parti demi masa depan sayap Wanita dan juga nama baik keluarganya sendiri. Mungkin dengan pengunduran beliau, ia akan memberi iktibar kepada penyokong kuatnya KJ juga untuk mengundur diri. Kerana sesungguhnya, kalau ada sayap pun, kiranya cacat, bukan sedar tak boleh terbang, berat nak diusung sayap kesini-sana, dan kiranya melarat, berpenyakit sehingga ke badan parti pula. 

Why PRU13 Is Likelier After Hari Raya Haji Rather Than Before Puasa

Pakatan Rakyat is in a mess. Not only is the coallition still reeling from the 9 January court decision in favour of DS Anwar Ibrahim, scuttling their plans to politically 'martyr' Anwar and replace him with a 'new' leader to lead them to glory, but the component parties are themselves facing internal rifts, most recently afflicting PAS in Kedah.

One would think, and many do, with the government roll-out of populist plans hitting high gear and the uncertainties of the world economy potentialy hitting Malaysia hard in the second half of the year that PRU13 is drawing near. With the natural aversion of number 4 adopted form the Chinese, May and June are running neck-and-neck for favourite PRU13 month.

However, this blogger takes a different view. An analysis of Pakatan woes and recent government populism or even globe-trotting economic scenarios should not be the pre-occupation of DS Najib Tun Razak and his various advisors on this matter. For as PRU12 shows us, BN's electoral performance would depend far more on its own electability as opposed to any other externality.

And this problem for BN is, whilst far from intractible, is not nearly nearing resolution due to specific incidents, a tendency to dodge difficult, politically precarious decisions and continued excess in respecting form over substance.

This blogger could easily pluck examples related to the handling of the MAYC issue (still unresolved despite pronouncements to the contrary on RTM at the end of last year) or other youth related issues. However, this is not even the easiest of actions that DS Najib could take to correct public perception over BN's continued credibility to govern... not that I said CREDIBILITY not CAPABILITY which on the balance most would still agree they have.

The question most on the lips of the electorate today, after the 'when are the elections' question, is "When is Shahrizat getting sacked!?" The exclamation mark, red and larger fonts are not for simple text emphasis only, but more often than not, this is also a reflection of the emotion behind the question.

Imagine the scenario, whereby hundreds of millions of ringgit of the rakyat's money was handed over to the husband of a sitting minister to deliver a national program. Not so bad as this has been done before in other countries, with some outcry, that is typically quitenned down when the sitting minister's husband, or wife, ACTUALLY DELIVERS WHAT WAS INTENDED TO BENEFIT THE RAKYAT.

However, in this case, the husband not only FAILS in the delivery, of all things, cows, or at least the meat off cows to the market. The husband blames everyone for his failure but himself, and to compound matters, he is found to have been buying condos with the money instead! And to add, the husband HAS BEEN APPOINTING HIS CHILDREN TO THE COMPANY!

All is still fine with the minister at this point. She could condemn her husband, distance herself from the act, even focus on saving her children, but no... SHE DEFENDS HER HUSBAND'S ACTIONS?! On a national platform, the party's annual convention! Sorry, is this not morally compromising enough and sufficient grounds for Shahrizat to be sacked?! She isn't even an MP, so where is the risk, really, vs. the significant benefit of gaining credibility?

And to add icing to the cake, KJ has been supporting Shahrizat, making people ask the question, why? Is he on the take too? How? As of course KJ's credibility is so low that anything he does is seen with circumspection, typically accompanied with not small measure of derision!

Until DS Najib and his team get big decisions like sacking a minister that is clearly morally compromised in the public eye right, BN is better off putting of PRU13, unless of course he is happy with repeating Pak Lah's feat of gaining a simple majority win. But of course, only a 2/3 majority will satisfy all that BN has regained its credibility with the rakyat, rather than just being grudgingly lived with for its capability.