March 22, 2012
An Alternative Viewpoint on Shahruzat and NFCorp: Victim or Political Albatross?
ANALYSIS
By Joceline Tan@www.thestar.com.my
The UMNO rank-and-file resent attempts to turn Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil’s family problems into a party problem and are banking on the Prime Minister to take matters into his hands when he addresses the senior ladies on Friday(March 23).
IT is no secret by now that Datuk Kamilia Ibrahim, the No. 2 in Wanita UMNO, is appalled by the NFCorp issue.
Everyone in UMNO has noticed that the last time Kamilia appeared alongside her Wanita UMNO chief Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil was at the party general assembly in December. She disapproves of how Shahrizat’s family has handled the cattle-rearing project and has kept a distance from the outgoing minister.
But Kamilia will be at the PWTC this Friday when the Prime Minister addresses Wanita UMNO 
members from all over the country.“I will be there to support the PM. He is the party President. I will abide by his decision and I will play my role and focus on the general election,” said the lawyer-cum-politician.
This will be the second mass gathering of Wanita UMNO grassroots leaders in a fortnight and while the event is ostensibly a show of support for the Prime Minister, some are asking if it is also an agenda on behalf of the beleaguered Wanita UMNO leader.
Shahrizat’s dilemma has drawn mixed reaction from the senior ladies. Some are supportive and sympathetic, others feel she has become a burden to the party. She is fortunate that the senior ladies are not the combative type and that only a handful have openly criticised her. But an overwhelming number feel that the NFCorp fiasco has damaged the party on the threshold of a critical general election.
At the same time, many are eager to hear what Najib has to say at what will be one of their last gatherings with Shahrizat before she steps aside as Minister of Women, Family and Community Development on April 8.
While the circle around Shahrizat is still unable to accept her resignation, others are relieved that she is going; they say it will take the pressure off the Government if more allegations come out. The men in UMNO are less forgiving and they feel she should have resigned earlier instead of going down in history as the first sitting minister whose husband was charged with CBT. Some of them wonder if she can play a credible role in Wanita UMNO with the issue still burning hot.
Several UMNO Division chiefs are so fed-up with Shahrizat and her husband Datuk Dr. Salleh Ismail that they have asked their Wanita heads not to attend Friday’s gathering. As a result, the Wanita UMNO headquarters has instructed every division to send at least 40 women each to make up the numbers.
Some of them think the Prime Minister has been too soft on what has happened and in allowing Shahrizat to cling on. Najib has given Shahrizat’s supporters a lot of face and made time for a delegation of Wanita UMNO exco members at his office late last Friday.
As a result, several senior figures in the party have suggested that all appeals on behalf of 
Shahrizat should cease and that it is time the ladies faced up to the situation and got to work.But Najib is apparently concerned not only about Shahrizat but the overall morale of the women’s wing. The ladies are the key campaign force in any election and he has to consider their feelings. He is trying to use the weight of his personality to engage directly with the senior ladies and draw them around his leadership.
When addressing a stadium full of Wanita UMNO ladies in Johor two weeks ago, he had asked: “Wanita UMNO is very committed and important. I want to ask, if anything happens, will you abandon UMNO, are you still with me?”
He said it three times in three different ways and each time, they gave him a huge affirmation. This Friday will see him elaborating on the theme that the party is bigger than the individual. UMNO officials said Najib has to take matters into his own hands to stop Shahrizat playing the victim card.
“Leaders come and go but the party stays. The point is to save the party from further damage but those around Shahrizat seem to care more about saving her than the party,” said a Wanita UMNO figure from Kuala Lumpur, where the impact of the NFCorp is greatest.
Shahrizat is in a very difficult place at the moment. Last week, as UMNO leaders were still praising her for her impending resignation, she was on the way to court where her husband was charged with several offences.
She looked every bit the sacrificial lamb that her supporters have made her out to be, dressed all in white, with one hand holding on to her eldest son Wan Shahinur Izmir and the other, holding a white Prada handbag.
She is emotionally distraught over her husband’s impending trial and terrified that her children may also face charges. She is hurt that her politician friends have turned out to be fair weather friends and are nowhere to be seen.
But there is also a certain degree of self-denial going on in her camp, which in private, has been lashing out at those whom it thinks are trying to bring Shahrizat down.
“As the No. 1, we must be able to understand the situation and make the right move. If you think you are a problem or obstacle, then you have a duty to make sure that you resolve the problem on your own,” said Kamilia.
The objective of asking Shahrizat to stay on in Wanita UMNO is partly face-saving and partly to present a united front. No one is forcing her to let go of the party post but some said the movement will have to make the best of the situation if she really wants to go.
They said the Wanita UMNO leader is necessary to coordinate and monitor an election campaign. But the UMNO Division heads are the ones who run the campaign machinery and everyone, including the Wanita division heads, takes directions from them. The show, they said, will go on with or without her.
Shahrizat’s adversary Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, made a sharp-tongued comment about getting rid of “bed bugs” but, generally, many in UMNO hope Shahrizat will complete her term as Wanita UMNO leader.
Din Merican: the Malaysian DJ Blogger 
Go Shahrizat go. Let a new Wanita UMNO take and repair the damage. If you leave it to Najib, you know he will ask you to stay because Rosie is supportive of you.
So on Friday (March 23), Najib will tell Wanita UMNO to stand behind Shahrizat and the Deputy will be sidelined. In addition, Datuk Kamilia will be made to look like an ambitious No.2 wanting to be the next Wanita UMNO chief.
Jibby keeps Shahrizat ‘cos Rosie instructs him to do so. So you know who runs the country now.
So now the internecine war starts.. Hahaha! What did i tell ya? When the going gets bad, everything gets worse!
UMNO Wanita is broken to pieces, and it doesn’t bode well for Jibs. This wing is the hardest working/most efficient of the whole bunch of rent-seeking misfits pretending to be Ketuanan enthusiasts. Kak Pidah ain’t one to mess with, just like Octo. She may not be the Ketua, but she is still Ketuanan. Jibs cojones just got twisted up one more turn. Ouch!
Without a solidly united Wanita, Jibs might have to delay the GE-13. Hard to control a stampeding herd of heifers – nonlactating, peri-menopausal ones at that.
Joceline Tan with her usual wobbling analysis.
Some want Shahrizat to go; some doesn’t want her to go and quote “many in UMNO hope Shahrizat will complete her term as Wanita UMNO leader”. Where did you do the straw poll ? Melting Pot cafe ?
Good analysis by playing it safe lest you might get a dressing down from your Big Mistress. Now waiting for Wong Chun Wai’s spinning piece.
“Shahrizat is in a very difficult place at the moment”
Shahrizat having failed to take the bull by the horn now finds herself between a rock and a hard place – or rather hard object.
Tok Cik should not be too hard on her!
hard on, Bean??
me thinks Tok Cik deserves better than the Bovine Beauty(has been)!
wanita umno is very important for Jibby just like the indian votes. jibs would be learning tamil soon to compete with Anwar.
who knows maybe he’ll send Rosie to a tamil school.
I sincerely believe that Shahrizat only got 50 million from the NFC fiasco n the rest goes to those above her,there’s Farklah n Khairy, Najib n some to Muhyideen too,it’s just too bad that she’s caught with her panties upside down.Tell me,if you are in a business deal n your words count,don’t you want your share too,Najib said it,U tolong Wa,Wa tolong U,but then again the real ambit is with the Agricultural Minister,Najid presiding over the award n Farklah approving n enjoying his Fork with his son in law in tow,they are all thieves,everyone gets their cut,I’ve been there,seen n heard it all before, when the shit hits the Fan,it’s Sharizat’s head that got the most,cow shit that is,the underlings of Wanita UMNO, you’d better wipe those slivers of your mouth for not getting any.That’s where you will all stay n be,underlings, Yesman and nothing more,perhaps some bread crumps or a leg of cow,here and there,n for that you’d sell your soul,not forgetting your religion too,Islam or Menyelam.
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Lok1, please try not to use Facebook lingo in making your comments. Thanks.–Din Merican
When It come to Wanita UMNO it makes no different who ever sits up there ,you find AP Queen and Cow Queen. What will it be for the next Queen?
Perhaps they have to support her because she can spill the bigger beans about the others.
Jean Francois Revel,( Encounter ) says this of corruption;
“Being ‘corrupt’ means somehow misapplying political or administrative power whether directly or indirectly, for one’s own financial or material advantage, or in order the gains amongst friends, colleagues, relations or supporters. When a Minister grants a subvention to an association of dubious utility ,even when he observes all the rules when doing so, he is committing an abuse, especially, if it turns out that the beneficiaries of the subvention are his personal or political friends…
This act amounts to a levy imposed on the labours of the producers in favour of the occupants of the power structure. The further the system extends, the heavier the hidden tax on production and the less profit and employment . Even if legal appearances are saved in these transactions ,it may be assumed that democracy is not. The national inheritance is diverted into private or partisan uses, causing a pernicious drain on the general economy.
No doubt the good minister who performs this little service for his henchmenhas no sense of being dishonest – and that is the most serious thing about it…There are two main types of corruption.
The first which afflicts regimes in particular,stems form the possibility of collaboration between political power and business:invitation to tender bids;State markets;the waving of laws or regulations;fiscal exemptions and various subventions – these form the sphere of collusion. The more interventionalist and centralist the State,the greater the risk of its occurrence.”
Revel said that the second type of corruption was more common in collectivist or widely nationalised systems in which State property and the national patrimony blur and overlapp’.
This is sophisticated propaganda subtly promoting the dominant UMNO faction’s line.
A work worthy of Pravda and Izvestiya in the old Soviet Union days.
How nice . Now even UMNO seems in disarry . Hopes it implodes from within.