Satu M'sia or Sapu M'sia: Cowgate’s ripple effects will finish off Wanita Umno, Najib

Many people eagerly awaited Wanita Umno Chief and Women's Minister Shahrizat Jalil’s return from forced leave with bated breath, and with good reasons too.

They want her to reveal as soon as possible who else in the Umno Government and party have similar or other skeletons like her in their cupboards.

National or family project - time to come clean!

In Shahrizat’s case, she stands accused of somehow getting her hands on RM 250 million of public money to finance the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) which is anything but national. The so-called Corporation belongs to her family and is run by her husband. If her project was that great, why didn’t she borrow from the banks? She could have raised an Islamic loan where “no interest” is levied.

The family has comparatively only a few skinny, scrawny, pathetic-looking cows in the NFC collection for show. They have been busy otherwise using our money to live it up as if there won’t be a tomorrow and that their day of reckoning would not come at all. It must be a sign of the times that there are people in Umno acting with such impunity. Those whom the Gods wish to destroy, they first make mad.

Before Shahrizat fled for dear life from the media and her ever-growing band of critics, mostly from within her own party, she had “bitched” – for want of a better term – that she “wasn’t the only one in Government and party who should be crucified”. She was more than hinting at the level of corruption, criminal breach of trust and abuse of power in Government by Umno leaders.

Now the envy of corruption-wannabes

Shahrizat’s veiled threat was obviously meant to silence the growing number of her critics in the party. If so, it has not worked. True, none have admonished her openly for casting aspersions on their character. But they have been busy otherwise, sniping at her from the sidelines, and feeding the media frenzy. Put it down to the crab culture widely prevalent in Umno. Nothing breeds envy like the ringgit signs in ones eyes.

Now that she’s back, Shahrizat is hopefully compiling a list of other culprits like her in Government and party. The list should be handed over to the Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) as soon as possible. It should be eager to sink the teeth into the Shahrizat List.

The MACC has so far been playing deaf, dumb and blind like the proverbial three monkeys and has failed to take the cue from her. They should have turned up on her doorsteps the very next minute and asked to divulge all that she knows. The Commission would have done so if the opposition had been involved. Talk about double standards!

MACC - a show agency taking orders from Umno

It’s unlikely that the Wanita Umno Chief would make a full disclosure in her list, if any, to MACC. The word is that she will confine her spilling of the beans, if at all, to her party wing as most of her critics are from there. The fear of the sack from the Najib Administration may yet deter Shahrizat and dampen her new-found enthusiasm to co-operate with the MACC.

The MACC should not confine themselves to Shahrizat’s List but instead focus as well on the other wings in the party i.e. Pemuda, Putera, Puteri and the main membership. The rot has set in deep.

The anti-corruption body, as a fall back position, doesn’t really need Shahrizat’s List as an excuse to begin probing the already endemic corruption culture within Umno. This is the police saying that they cannot act on any wrongdoing, even obvious ones, unless there’s a police report on the matter.

Satu Malaysia or Sapu Malaysia

Umno is already deeply-rooted in the culture of corruption through the so-called politics of patronage, the Malaysia Boleh (Malaysia can) slogan which covers a multitude of sins and under the guise of giving Bumiputera (affirmative action policy) opportunities to do business. It comes as no surprise that Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia policy is now being read as Sapu Malaysia.

Every Umno branch is virtually owned, controlled and managed by families which form mini political dynasties. The branches are much like Sdn Bhd, private limited companies, under a Holding Company, Umno. These Umno branches spend all their time making the rounds of various ministries and government departments, collecting information which can be translated into commercial gain and/or collecting so-called projects.

The projects by themselves are not seen as that important and is generally left to others, sub-contractors, to carry out for a modest profit. Instead, the projects are seen by the Sdn Bhd branches as an excuse to milk the Public Treasury for all it’s worth. Hence, a project would eventually cost the tax payer twice, thrice or even ten times and more over-and-above the actual Bill.

The government or public debt keeps sky-rocketing.  The difference is pocketed by the Umno branches as their “profit margin”, indecent as they are in the final reckoning. It’s easy money given the absence of any open tendering process, and the lack of transparency, public accountability and no checks and balances.

Even so, these projects are not the same as the NFC-style mega rip-offs awarded to Shahrizat's family. The NFC was 'obscene' in that there were no real proper and public tenders called. Instead the beneficiary was given massive public funds, virtually free and in the form of outright grants, to venture into business, presumably for the greater glory of the race, religion and the nation.

Unrepentant and still in a fighting mood

This must explain why even a forced 3-weeks-leave has not helped knock some sense into Shahrizat who was appointed the Women, Family and Community Development Minister after being soundly thrashed in the last General Election.

She’s still in a fighting mood, ignoring calls for her to step down from her party and government posts, bent on defending her husband who remains in a state of denial. Instead, he’s busy looking around for more scapegoats.

The opposition is determined to hound her day and night, flogging her for hijacking the RM 250 million of public funds. She should leave before she gets a mental breakdown and not cling on to anything as if it was “ancestral property”.

Shahrizat thinks that the Opposition is up to no good and wants to destroy her as part of their efforts to destroy Wanita Umno which, according to her, is the strongest component in Umno. If that was true, the opposition alliance would not have won five states and the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur in 2008.

That Wanita Umno will be in shambles long before the next General Election has become a foregone conclusion. Others beg to differ and think that the party wing will emerge stronger than ever. It remains to be seen. There’s a limit to how much punishment any organisation can take.

Najib's weak hold over Umno also exposed

The Cowgate Scandal is not the only factor.

Those who have been with Wanita Umno for years, risking all and sincerely contributing whatever they can, will not put up with a situation where they are not among the favoured few like Shahrizat. This would weaken her leadership severely i.e. if she continues to hang on to her Wanita post on the grounds that she was elected to it and can only be removed by delegates during another party election.

Between Shahrizat, NFC’s Cowgate Scandal, Wanita Umno, and the other cesspools of corruption like the Sdn Bhd branches, Najib stands accused of not taking firm charge of the party and government.

The knives will soon be out for him as well and, this time, without any mercy whatsoever. He may even be a political casualty long before GE 13 or face the polls in a severely weakened position from which he will never recover.

Malaysia Chronicle