'Spending-spree' Rosmah ticks off students: Don't bite the hand that feeds you

It looks like Prime Minister Najib Razak's wife Rosmah Mansor has put her foot in her mouth once again.

As tensions ran high amongst the nation's youth over the rising cost of higher education while Najib's government rammed through a series of bailouts and other stake purchases blatantly favorable to crony businessmen, Rosmah chipped in her bit to defend her husband.

"There is an English proverb that says 'Don't bite the hand that feeds you', so do not hurt them with any ungrateful words or deeds," Bernama reported Rosmah as saying in her speech at the launch of 2012 A Step to University at Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) on Sunday.

Insensitive

Rosmah was immediately chided for her "insensitive remarks", which were compared to Khaled Nordin, the minister for higher education who stirred up a ruckus after he told student protesters they deserved the beating they received from a mob of more 40 people believed to be linked to Umno.

The students were part of a group that had camped at the Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur to protest against the PTPTN, the acronym for a much criticized students loan program and as part of the OccupyDataran movement, which is demonstrating for greater democratic space.

"No one told them to camp out at Dataran. So when these things happen, don't cry for pity," Khaled had said on his Twitter as news of the mob attack broke out.

Underestimating the students

Indeed, it might appear a bit rich for Rosmah to tick off the students given her well-documented spendthrift ways.

Rosmah, the self-styled FLOM or First Lady of Malaysia, has been dogged by controversy since Najib took over as PM in April 2009. Her brash ways, autocratic style and insistence on poking her nose into national affairs have irritated and angered Malaysians.

Worse still, her extravagant lifestyle and shopping sprees that allegedly puts Imelda Marcos, the former Philippines first lady, to shame have caused serious concern that she and her husband might be abusing their power and dipping into the public coffers to finance their personal expenses.

"Rosmah is clearly out of sync with the students and how they are feeling at this stage of the nation's development. We are talking university and college students. These are bright people, they can sense something is not right. Where has the money gone to? Why are toll roads so expensive and so are other everyday necessities?" PKR vice president Chua Jui Meng told Malaysia Chronicle.

"Yet the rich get richer and Rosmah keeps spending and spending. The cronies keep getting plumb deals and don't even have to repay the government. But the students must pay for their uni. How can this be? It is very sad Rosmah and Najib seem to think the students are either too young or too stupid to grasp such facts. They blame the Opposition for the students turning against the BN. But it is actually a terrible indictment on the youth to have the country's leadership underrate them so much."

Malaysia Chronicle