PKR Women's wing has lodged police reports across the nation against Selangor Umno Women's chief Raja Ropiaah, demanding a transparent and immediate investigation into allegations that her firm had corruptly obtained a RM100mil land privatization deal
"The time has come for women in Malaysia to make their stand against the rampant corruption in the country. Women are very committed voters, they are very loyal but it is time to change their loyalty to clean leaders," Haniza Talha, the PKR Deputy Women's chief told a press conference on Friday.
Don't play, play - women form half of the electorate
Indeed, Malaysia has in recent months been rocked by a series of corruption scandals involving women leaders from the ruling Umno party including Rosmah Mansor, the wife of Prime Minister Najib Razak.
Political analysts have warned that Umno's failure to address the issue may further tilt the odds into the Opposition's favor. Women form about 49% of Malaysia's 28 million populations and about the same proportion of the electorate.
According to Haniza, there was visible and mounting unease amongst the women in the country following the expose's on Umno women's chief Shahrizat Jalil, whose family was charged for criminal breach of trust over the RM250mil NFC debacle, Rosmah's extravgant shopping sprees and love for diamonds worth millions of ringgit and now, Raja Ropiaah's involvement in the Bukit Raja land scandal.
"There has been an undeniable impact. For example, Shahrizat is mooed whenever she and her Wanita teams go to the ground," said Haniza, reffering to the NFC livestock project, which has been tagged Shahrizat's Cow-gate by the media.
"Now we want an explanation from Ropiaah. So far, neither she nor Umno have made a single response to the allegations and these are very serious."
Ropiaah at the centre of scandal but no explanation at all
It was granted by the Selangor state government during the tenure of Umno chief minister Khir Toyo. But Selangor fell into Opposition hands in the 2008 election and is now governed by the Pakatan Rakyat coalition.
According to Deepak, a former close friend of Rosmah's, Najib had abused his authority in granting the land privatization contract, which includes the construction of a military research unit Puspahanas, to Raja Ropiaah in 2006. At that time, Najib was still the deputy prime minister and defense minister. For that deal, Najib's family received millions of ringgit, alleged Deepak.
Deepak said he got into the picture when he bought over the land from Raja Ropiaah. However after several years, the title was still not transferred by the PR Selangor state government, which said it smelt a rat and wanted time to probe further. Deepak also said he found out that Ropiaah was selling the land to other parties, including toothbrush-maker Guppyunip, and filed a lawsuit to stop her and her firm from reneging on the deal with him.
The case has since been settled out of court, with military-linked public-listed firm Boustead Holdings Bhd controversially offering to boy out Ropiaah for RM130 million and Deepak for RM30 million. Boustead Holdings is 61%-owned by the LTAT or Armed Forces Pension Fund, and there is widespread concern among members that the acquisition will eat into their fund's net worth.
"Everything is centred around Raja Ropaah but there no word from her, be it that LTAT has to buy the land that already belongs to the Ministry of Defense. At the moment, all these parties have not given any explanation at all. Today, Wanita Keadilan is demanding that Raja Ropiaah makes an explanation especially to the members of the army," said Haniza.
Leave Umno for your own sake and for your children's
Najib too has been accused of pressuring Boustead to buy out Ropiaah in a bid to silence Deepak, who has threatened to expose further scandals.
The complex and convoluted Bukit Raja wheeling-dealing, where the end game appears to be corruption to enrich top leaders, should be the final call for Umno women members to demand change, said Haniza.
Umno women must break away from their party if they did not want the country and their children to be "contaminated" by the corruption-riddled culture set by the Umno elite, she claimed.
"I think it (corruption) is not just among the men but also rampant in the Umno women's wing. They don't feel it is wrong and we have seen it in the case of NFC, the Selangor Wanita Umno wing. It shows that this is the result from supporting corrupt leaders. They need to re-think and make changes... these are the people making the country go into ruins," Haniza said.
"How are you going to bring up the status of women if they themselves are deep in mud. How to set an example for our young?"
Malaysia Chronicle
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