Like a tigress defending her cubs, Shahrizat claws back and she may win

Umno Senator Shahrizat Jalil is a frustrated and angry woman. In this state of mind anyone would act desperately. This is usually happens when tragedy or misfortune strikes.

When her husband Salleh Ismail and her children were awarded the RM250 million NFC project, the prospect of being given the charge of such a huge figure must have been overwhelming. The Shahrizats were indeed awestruck at their stroke of luck - it must have seem like they had struck first prize in a huge lottery.

Sapu habis?

So it was that without much thought her husband rushed out and rustled together an adhoc and rudimentary management team comprising his sons and daughter, forgetting that they have never run any business, let alone sell nasi lemak on the road shoulders in their entire lives before! Without a doubt,  Salleh Ismail should have engaged a professional, experienced and qualified CEO and Manager to operate the NFC and not try to run the show by himself.

However looking at the existing NFC structure and its cattle ranch, Salleh did engage some consultant to set up the project but only for a while. He must have been worried that he would have to pay them extra money. Yes, he probably became greedy. Why not “sapu habis” or sweep clean the RM250 million government soft loan to get the project up and running?!

It was then that the blunders began. Instead of concentrating on developing the satellite farms for the National Feedlot Corporation, aimed to provide Malaysians with cheaply-priced beef, he started to find ways to siphon the money out. Topmost on his mind could be that the NFC is not his, thus somehow the money must be taken out to be really owned by his family. How and what should he to 'protect' his family.

And as they say, the rest is history.

Misfortune  

As for Shahrizat, she was either completely oblivious as she has insisted or was quite confident that the blunders would not be exposed and why not? It was because the NFC had never been audited since its inception until 2010. Anyhow, being an important UMNO leader and with all her connections, the whole scandal could still be covered up. But fate was not on her side as we all know now.

UMNO leaders know that this debacle is going to hit hard on UMNO and many have the opinion that UMNO must disassociate with it and with Shahrizat as soon as possible no matter what. Shahrizat has not been truthful and did not tell them the extent of the wrong doings at NFC, it looks inevitable there will be more unsuspecting revelations to come. Secondly, with the GE-13 so near, and both sides of the political divide struggling for time to prepare for the polls, it would be impossible to resolve her case anytime soon.

Furthermore, with the infighting in UMNO escalating, poor Shahrizat is unlikely to find many defenders. Most of her supporters already privately distance themselves from her. To them, she is finished as a politician. The latest scandal involving Awang Adek, who was found to have received money and he admitted it, is only starting to simmer. Even when it boils, it won't save Shahrizat from inevitable political oblivion nor her family from intense public scrutiny and possible prosecution.

Stubborn lady with a mind of her own

Despite all the fancy footwork and maneuvering, the ultimate reason for this quagmire is the bitter infighting in UMNO at the top level and Shahrizat will be the proverbial scapegoat.

After refusing to heed the calls to resign, it appears that Shahrizat must be forced to do so and her exit may be quicker, less gracious and more dramatic than expected. Already, Prime Minister Najib Razak has stopped defending her, only saying that he has not received her quit letter yet and that he has instructed the MACC to do a full-scale probe into the NFC debacle.

But Shahrizat is one very stubborn lady, with a mind of her own, and she is determined not to be played out by her enemies within her own party. In fact, she is determined to get even should they forget themselves and throw her to the wolves. This is apparent with her recent hint that she was a responsible BN leader and knew what had to be done. The twist came with her follow-up comment that 'which Umno leader does not have a problem?'. This was not a bitchy snipe but a real threat to her enemies, who to be fair to Shahrizat may have salted away much more than she allegedly has.

On the other side of the pendulum, the MACC - unfair and biased as ever - has made a sudden U-turn from announcing that there was no element of corruption to carrying out a full-scale and fully-publicized raid on the NFC. Yes, it was meant to humiliate Shahrizat and further force her hand into resigning. But it was also Najib's way of saving his own skin. Indeed, many suspect Najib to have played a hand in exposing Shahrizat to balance the forces in Umno pulling against him and these include the Mahathir Mohamad faction and the Muhyiddin Yassin faction.

No choice but to go to war

Shahrizat has no choice but to go to war for the general election as previously planned but against the Najib faction - which is said to include Shahrizat's arch rival Raja Nong Chik -  and which seems to be bent on bringing down her family. The UMNO Women's chief has been pushed to a corner and her family, their reputation, their business dreams and all that she has sacrificed, struggled and worked for is being trashed in public for all to see and stepped on.

But Shahrizat should have known better. This is UMNO politics. Look at how Mahathir 'took care' of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim. Look at how Najib, who once eagerly offered himself to be Anwar's running mate and DPM-designate when they tried to challenge Mahathir for the leadership of Umno backstabbed Anwar by copying the 1998 Sodomy I plot and hanging it on Anwar once again in 2008.

Shahrizat has been left alone and by now her supporters must have sidled over to other camps to secure their own political fate. The chain reaction in UMNO has begun and it looks like the Wanita wing will be the first domino to fall and set off the others until the once-mighty party implodes - burst by its own filth and corruption.

Another Datuk emerges

The sudden news break extensively covered by the BN-media of the involvement of a “Datuk” who is said to be another “puppet” in the NFC scandal and who allegedly tried to bribe investigators, is another sly and typical UMNO decoy. There could be several reasons why the Datuk was written into the UMNO script.

He could be used to take the fall to save the Najib faction instead of being a Shahrizat creation whipped up to save her family. Most probably, he is to be used as a “witness” to testify against Shahrizat's family to show her that if she does not co-operate, 'they' would be ready to use the foulest means to bring her down.

Of course, all this would ostensibly be to 'save' UMNO but if this is so, then the first people MACC should probe should be the hugely scandal-tainted Najib as well as Mahathir and his own die-hard loyalists including Rafidah Aziz.

One very interesting point to note is that those who are against Najib would sure take this opportunity to stand on Shahrizat's side to bring down Najib. This is a step that the PM - not known for his quick wits - to watch out for.

Ferocious tigress 

In her desperation to save her husband and children, Shahrizat is bound to welcome anyone who wished to assist her - in fact, the more the better and she could end up having the upper hand against Najib after all.

This has some similarity with the Mel Gibson movie “Ransom” when he turned the table on the kidnappers of his child by counter offering the kidnappers more money if the leader was caught and his child saved. Shahrizat will use all her powers and inside knowledge, rally Najib’s enemies and even the opposition to win this battle. Remember Shahrizat is not just fighting for her political survival. She is like a wounded tigress out to protect her children from harm.

As for Najib, he stands to be exposed and compromised. Again, he has proven himself to be a tad "stupid" . Now, it may be him who is feeling the pressure rather than Shahrizat. If he loses in this tussle of wills, he is already as good as gone in UMNO. It would be the final straw for UMNO members who have been sickened at his lack of leadership and near absence of any principled stand. It is highly unlikely that his enemies won't recognize the golden opportunity that he has created for them against himself! Another foolish move by a vainglorious personality.

Hapless Najib - more pie in the face

Najib sympathizers will have to console themselves that he is an unlucky man. Despite his own scandals and his mischievous wife Rosmah Mansor, he has been able to weather the storm. In the NFC, although he tried to expose the scandal so as to highlight the wrongdoings of former premier Abdullah Badawi, Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin and Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin in carelessly awarding the project to Shahrizat's family, it looks to be boomeranging on him.

If not resolved properly and amicably with a lot of compromises, Shahrizat could jeopardize his political and financial future. If not, Shahrizat will go on rampage and an under-pressure Najib rushing to prevent the shit from hitting the fan would straightaway lose stock with UMNO members. It looks like he has already lost and will be forced to cover up. Of course, Shahrizat still has to resign but she would be able to salvage some future for her daughter and two sons.

The whole scandal has gone out of control. NFC is not only threatening Najib but is swamping UMNO. Najib has to have a plan B. He probably has but the question is, what sort of Plan B is it - better or worse than his Plan A?

Plan B

Some say the “Datuk” is Plan B. If so, it has already failed. The moment a "Datuk" was reported, it smacked of the Datuk T sex scandal sort of shenanigan - immediately suspicious and incredible. He is going to be sacrificed for Shahrizat, her family, the NFC debacle, Najib and UMNO. Like Altantuya, the unlucky or lucky man (depending from what angle you are looking at the situation), this "Datuk" is going to be 'C4-ed'.

Of course, one scapegoat is not enough to convince everybody. Malaysians can expect many officials from the Ministry of Finance and other government departments to be trooped out either as witnesses or as sacificial lambs. Apparently, there are already 27 names on the list. This is after all the UMNO elite, trapped in their own cut-throat world of skullduggery and connivance while the rest of the nation hankers to break free of such chains of dirt and oppression.

Malaysia Chronicle