In apple-polishing Najib, is "wrong hands" Rafidah eyeing the Wanita chief post again?

Rafidah Aziz, the corruption-tainted ex-Trade minister, said the right thing when she urged the people to choose the government with the proven track record. Bu sad to say, she blew the whistle on herself and her political insincerity when she used the wrong examples to illustrate her words.

"This PM (Najib) can govern, and has proven himself," she was reported as saying by the government media.

Now, if there is anyone who has proven himself as a clueless leader without any idea of how to administer a country, it has to be Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Apple-polishing

Not surprising then that Rafidah was immediately bombarded for trying to 'apple-polish' Najib. Her ringing endorsement brought back in full flood all the past memories of her own bad track record, how engrained was her alleged corruption that it took years for Badawi to successfully 'get rid' of her.

Now she is trying to latch onto Najib - perhaps worried about the fate of her Kuala Kangsar parliamentary seat. Will Najib allow her - already nearly 70 - to defend her KK bastion or to become the head of Wanita, the Women's wing again? Truly, Rafidah is a typical UMNO 'pirate' - the term many Malaysians use to derogate the party's opportunistic leaders who are forever in one scrape or another.

Say what she will, Rafidah was herself dropped from the Cabinet by former premier Abdullah Badawi because of public outcry over the way she favored her son-in-law with import permits for motor vehicles as well as over shares in a certain firm.

All the wrong hands

But let's examine what Najib has done so far to justify her remark? Is Rafidah not just picking the words from thin air without thinking and looking at the facts? Has she become so naïve or out of touch with reality?

This is something to consider because when a leader simply sells out like this, it shows that he or she has no right or standing to be elected or appointed to any high office. He or she would merely be a Yes-man or woman, and totally useless to Malaysians.

It is evident that Najib has flip-flopped once too many times to ignore. Some of recent U-turns include important issues such as the Internal Security Act and Peaceful Assembly Bill, the new pay scheme for the civil servants and the MAS-AirAsia share swap, plus the failed My First Home Scheme.

The economy remains stagnant and the situation is so bad that Najib has no inkling when he should call for the 13th general election even though there is just a year left before the BN's term to govern expires.

"Don't give the country away to the wrong hands because you will be in trouble," Rafidah said, adding that the position of prime minister should not be given to "someone who merely wants to be PM."

The 'wrong mouth' too

But Rafidah is herself  a "wrong" hand, as she herself put it so colorfully. And Najib too was willing to go to extraordinary lengths to become PM. Till today, the plaintive words of Razak Baginda's wife in the Altantuya murder case remain a chilling reminder of the lengths that Najib and his wife Rosmah may have gone to, to secure the PM's chair. It's not "my husband who wants to be Prime Minister,” screamed Mrs Razak Baginda.

So it is clear, Naijib is a "wrong hand". So are UMNO power brokers such as Mahathir Mohamad, Abdullah Badawi, Isa Samad, Shahrizat Jalil. The wrong hands are all in the 'pirate ship' UMNO.

Did not Rafidah read about what her successor Shahrizat Jalil recently said? “Tell me who in UMNO have no problem..?” when questioned on her role in the RM250million NFC debacle. Really, Rafidah would have done much better to keep her mouth shut and return whatever loot she was accused of having taken immorally and wrongly from the people.

Stand-up comic

Not only has she reduced herself to stand-up comic status, she displayed her ignorance of the foreign scene - surprising for someone who has traveled as widely as herself. "You need an administration that has proven to be able to deal with regional, domestic and global issues”, Rafidah added.

Come on, Rafidah, don't you read the newspapers or watch BBC, which was forced to tender an apology to its global audience due to Najib Razak's unabashed attempts to buy flattering media publicity for himself. Let us face the fact that Najib has failed in creating a good image of himself even after squandering millions of Malaysians' money on UK consultant FBC Media.

Even the Queen of England ridiculed Najib by wearing yellow when he visited her palace, days after ordering the harsh crackdown on Bersih 2.0 ralliers for free and fair elections.

So demented was his judgment that he even banned the wearing of yellow color in Malaysia so as to frighten the people from supporting free and fair elections . How does this prove Najib is a good leader? How does this prove Rafidah wasn't lying through her teeth when she praised him? How does this prove she did not have any ulterior motive for polishing his apples, so to speak!

Good luck and goodbye to Rafidah indeed!

Best yet to come for the clearly 'foggy' Rafidah is when she dared to say, ""Malaysia is a choice destination for businesses and operations currently, so if things change – then good luck to you!"

Haha! Didn't she read her colleague Ng Yen Yen, the Tourism minister, saying in the newspapers that one of the reasons for foreigners not being eager to make Malaysia their second home was because they did see Malaysia as peaceful or stable. This, after five decades of uninterrupted UMNO-BN in rule.

Right now, the Foreign Direct Investment that comes to Malaysia go mostly to the Pakatan Rakyat states, and that is proof enough of good governance. And if Rafidah, with all her experience and knowledge, is not professional enough to acknowledge that, and instead chooses to lie to the people, then she should not be given any second chance by any Malaysian.

Corruption in whatever form has taken root of her soul, and she will be a menace the moment she pops back into power. Best that she be placed in a museum and it is most apt for UMNO to build its own museum in Melaka nearby to  the padang (field) where the late Tunku Abdul Rahman declared the nation's independence. Joining her should be the full UMNO ching-gang including Mahathir, Daim, Shahrizat, Najib and the list goes on and on.

UMNO-BN, with all its scandals and mismanagement including the more than RM1 trillion in illicit outflows, the soaring national debt of RM450 billion, is definitely not fit to be the government.

Malaysia Chronicle