Pakatan Rakyat's Biggest Asset---> Shahrizat Jalil

Nomination for Dumbest Statement of the Week: "Keputusan mengekalkan Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil sebagai Ketua Pergerakan Wanita Umno tidak akan memberi ruang kepada pembangkang untuk mengeksploitasikan perpaduan anggota dalam Umno." (By Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal)

At present, this is the 900-pound monkey on Umno and BN's back - the continued presence of Shahrizat as Umno Wanita chief could possibly be enough for Pakatan Rakyat to hold onto Kelantan, Kedah and Selangor in the next General Elections. Is this insistence to allow her a so-called "honourable exit" be worth losing in these states again??

After their outstanding performance in the March 2008 GE - and the peak of their popularity during the Permatang Pauh by-election - things have been going downhill for Pakatan Rakyat. BN now has more than a fighting chance to win back all those states that it had lost. And this includes the once-invincible PAS stronghold of Kelantan. 

There is this interesting column by Joceline Tan in the Sunday Star today: Kelantan at the crossroads. This isn't 1990, 1999 or 2008 anymore. I was in Pasir Mas during all those elections, by the way, and those were years when the BN didn't have a bat's chance in hell in getting anywhere close to winning. But it will in 2012, for the people there are now willing to give the BN the chance again.

However, there is this `little' problem - the continued presence of Shahrizat. Her resignation as a minister isn't quite enough - as long as she remains as Wanita chief, Umno and the BN will definitely lose some precious votes. This matter concerning Shahrizat's family obtaining and misusing a RM250 million soft loan is and will be Pakatan's main point against the BN. 


To be sure, Pakatan will continue to harp on it even if Shahrizat were to resign as Wanita chief. However, Umno and BN could rightly say that "the perpetrator is no longer with us", and this is something acceptable to the voters. But if she's still around, both Umno and BN will be forced to continue defending the un-defendable and alienate many voters... maybe enough to allow Pakatan to hang on to these states.


Shahrizat is being unfair and unreasonable by hanging on to her post. To Umno and BN: Is this "honourable exit" for Shahrizat more important than the coalition's performance in the General Elections?

Jebat Must Die, Shahrizat Must Go

NFC chairman Datuk Seri Dr Mohamed Salleh Ismail has been charged for criminal breach of trust (CBT) and violations of the Companies Act. His wife, Datuk Shahrizat Jalil will resign as Women, Family and Community Development Minister next month. 


Are these enough? NO! This disgusting scandal has so shocked and antagonised the people that the government (and BN) must not let up - it must thoroughly expose and clean up the whole mess if it is really serious in setting things right.


It is therefore encouraging to read the New Straits Times report's today: More NFC directors to be charged where two government appointees on the NFC board may also be implicated in the scandal (and presumably be charged). These are Pagar Makan Padi kind of people - people who had betrayed the trust placed on them. They deserve to get it.


And the matter with Salleh and Shahrizat shouldn't end with the above charges and her resigning from the ministerial post. Besides CBT and violations of the Companies Act, there is this other no-less-serious matter involving one sleazy Datuk - Shamsulbahrin Ismail - whom Salleh had appointed as a `media consultant' and given money to undertake `certain services'. This sleazy Datuk had attempted to bribe the authorities from investigating the NFC. If Salleh is also involved in any way, he must be charged for this too.


With Shahrizat, resigning from the minister's post isn't enough. In the interest of Umno and the BN, she must also step down from being Wanita chief. Yes, she had contested and won. However, it was at a time and in a situation where this scandal wasn't a factor. Would the delegates have done the same had this been around her neck? I doubt it. Umno and BN are now carrying a biawak hidup on their back - if Shahrizat is really sincere about helping the party in the next General Elections, then she must do the right thing. 

You might be wondering why I'm so blood-thirsty. It's because of this: I didn't leave Pakatan Rakyat to support the sinking Umno in October 2008 in order for cretins to remain in power and abuse their positions. Do you know how hard it is for ordinary people like me to obtain any sort of loan or grant to help expand our legitimate businesses? But here we have Shahrizat's family receiving RM250 MILLION !...at a miserable 2% interest! (Salleh had claimed it was "at a commercial rate") With this amount and at this rate, even a half-wit could easily make a lot of profit from numerous easy ventures.


Yes, there are most likely many other abuses by others in power. But let's keep in focus and not digress from what's presently in front of us - the abuses at NFC. To Umno: if it wants our continued support, it must do the right thing about this matter. This is also an opportunity to show that it is indeed making honest attempts to rehabilitate itself from the image of corruption.