Shahrizat blows it for Umno in Sarawak?

Umno wanita chief Sharizat Abdul Jalil's arrogance and ignorance has made her a laughing stock in Sarawak.

KUCHING: If former Umno Women, Family and Community Development ’s Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil had been observant, she’d have noticed the incredulous looks on the faces of the crowd when she recently warned Sarawakians to be ‘wary’ of peninsular-based opposition leaders who stoke racial and religious issues.

Here was a minister, who seemed oblivious to the fact that it was her bosses in Umno who had fine-tuned the art of stoking and perpetuating racial and religious disharmony in their bid to stay in power.

“If you talk about propagating racial politics and religious issues, Umno is the worst.

“As Umno Wanita chief, she should be the last person to tell the people of Sarawak what to do about racial and religious unity,” said Sarawak PKR vice chairman See Chee How.

See, who is also Batu Lintang assemblyman, said peninsular leaders such as Shahrizat should know that Sarawak is above race and religion.

“Here we don’t play politics with race and religion. It is not difficult for her to find out that there are no such things as racial and religious issues here.

“And this is because in Sarawak there is no Umno,” said See.

See was alluding to shocking testimonies of witnesses in the ongoing Sabah Royal Commission of Inquiry which revealed the extent peninsular Umno-BN leaders and their agents in Sabah went – following its entry into Sabah – to nuetralise the Christian community and consolidate their vote-banks by offering citizenships-for-votes to illegal immigrants who were Muslims.

Sarawakians have been closely monitoring the unravellings of the RCI and former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s admission of guilt as well his counter claim that Tunku Abdul Rahman had done the same by giving away citizenships to a million aliens at the time. He had also reportedly called for an RCI on this.

Shahrizat, who was handpicked by Mahathir into his cabinet, bloomed under Mahathir’s guidance and thinking.

‘She is powerless now’

Currently Umno women’s chief and national Barisan Nasional chairperson, she was in Kuching in connection with the launching of ‘program Gagasan Aspirasi Wanita’ last weekend.

During the launch, she told the crowd that the opposition would make all kinds of election promises but that most of them would be lies.

Responding to this, See said Shahrizat should look at her own track record of unfulfilled promises.

Citing the issue of raped Penan girls, See said Shahrizat had promised to look into this years ago.

“What has happened to her promises of actions to be taken against the culprits? We have sent details of rape against Penan girls to her.

“Until today nothing is done and the culprits have not been arrested to face the law.

“How can we trust her especially when she is no longer a minister? She is powerless now,” See said.

The PKR leader was referring to Shahrizat’s forced resignation from her minister’s post as a result of her family’s alleged involvement in the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) scandal.

The scandal allegedly involved a government loan of RM250 million.

On Shahrizat’s challenge to opposition members to contest in their own parliamentary constituencies and not to come to Sarawak to disturb peace, See said it further reflected her ignorance.

“None of the West Malaysian politicians are contesting in Sarawak.

“Those contesting in Sarawak are local people who are members of the local chapters of PKR, DAP and PAS.

“Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Kit Siang and Abdul Awang Hadi do come to Sarawak to help us as it is also the case of BN leaders coming to Sarawak to help local BN parties.

“So what is wrong with that?” See asked.