Umno's latest quagmire: NFC - the full story is yet to come out

Many have been wondering why Umno Youth Chief Khairy Jamaluddin was the only one who tried his best to defend the mess made by the Shahrizat Jalil family over the RM250million Gemas-NFC debacle. His zealous effort was only dampened when the “cows” bought not only one as initially reported but two condos. This was admitted by Salleh Ismail, the NFC boss and Shahrizat's husband himself.

By then it was simply ridiculous for Khairy to open his mouth further, he didn't realize it until he saw the smiles on the faces of his 'friends’. He may have been totally mortified afterwards, but the truth is everyone makes stupid justifications; even the smartest people in the world make dumb decisions. The best part is: the smarter they think they are, the harder they make you laugh.

Ulterior motives

Yet, when Khairy Jamaludin defended it, he was not trying to be smart; he was being selfish in possibly trying to protect himself from the repercussions of a Shahrizat fallout and also being protective of his father-in-law. How come? Because it was during Abdullah Badawi’s term as premier that the whole money-making scheme was hatched and implemented.

Khairy was then the head of the fourth-floor goons; where the idea could have been promoted by him after the Ministry of Agriculture then headed by Muhyiddin Yassin envisioned it. Badawi was then trying to diversify the economy by transforming agriculture into real business, thus the slogan “Pertanian itu Perniagaan” or Farming is also Business sprang up on the bill boards all over the country. One could safely assume this was Khairy’s brainchild. No wonder he defended as if it was his pet project!

In fact, Muhyiddin did visit the NFC in Gemas to find out what was going on with the project on 23rd June 2011. At the farm, distinguished visitors are told that "It is a misconception that agriculture is not profitable. We also wanted to show Malaysia is capable of producing high quality beef," Malay Mali had reported NFC chief executive officer Izran Salleh as saying. Izran, along with his brother Izmir and sister Izzana, had set up their cattle farm on a 5,000-acre site in Gemas, Negri Sembilan in 2008.

Unfortunately the debacle is indefensible and what came out from Khairy’s mouth is not just ridiculous but also sounds rather stupid. The defenses from Prime Minister Najib Razak and Agriculture Minister Noh Omar are half-truths, prompting more questions rather than providing answers. Then Badawi himself came into the picture without giving any relevant facts as usual, and in the end, even Muhyiddin gave up trying to explain. He arrogantly told the rakyat (people) to make their own conclusions.

Only one herd of cows?

As UMNO tried to defend the failed NFC, portraying it as a success through the media, one can make an easy conclusion from the video clip that was aired via the UMNO television companies that showed the only herd of cows they had in the entire 5,000 acre farm. It is quite glaring that all of them are skinny; the cows are obviously underfed even with a RM250 million soft loan.

It seems that nobody in the UMNO-BN wants to take the responsibility and Najib is quite happy not to dig further into the matter since this has already given him some advantage over Muhyiddin. Yes, the DPM is getting the negative effects because he was the Agriculture Minister at that point in time. But Najib - in case he thinks he is not responsible - was also the Deputy Prime Minister. Alas, the beef that Malaysians have with Najib still holds - he is indeed a most irresponsible leader and cares only for personal glamour and pleasure.

Shahrizat and her family are really fortunate to have Najib as the Prime Minister. Shahrizat is also aware that the NFC will be defended at all costs because it will be UMNO’s quagmire. Delegates attending the December annual assembly will surely demand to know how did the project end up being given to her family? Why did the other bidder for the project Lamberts Agricultural Trade (M) Sdn Bhd, an Australian based company, withdraw from the scheme? That is another story to be told another day, please be patient.

Who will be richer, who will be poorer

Now everyone is trying to distance himself or herself from the debacle. Noh Omar recently informed us that the RM250 million loan was not even referred to the Cabinet. But which Cabinet? The Badawi Cabinet or the Najib Cabinet?

This entire episode has exposed the true colours of UMNO-BN and the Malaysian ministers. Unfortuntely, the UMNO-BN government has no idea on how to salvage the NFC or what to do with it. The easy thing to do which is the norm for the UMNO-BN government is to bail NFC out. Would this mean Shahrizat's family would be RM250 million richer and the rakyat RM250 million poorer?

No one will know until a thorough audit is carried out. So this is why a proper probe needs to be carried out. Alas, after the Teoh Beng Hock RCI, few people have any faith in any of the institutions any more. It sure looks like more of the rakyat’s money will be thrown, not into the drain, but certainly into the cow dung at Gemas.

Malaysia Chronicle