In victory, Shahrizat now immune to NFC saga

ANALYSIS Shahrizat Abdul Jalil's landslide victory in the election of the Wanita Umno chairpersonship comes as no surprise, despite her name often being linked to the National Feedlot Corporation saga.

To her opponents outside Umno, Shahrizat may be the example of how the party is increasingly asphyxiated by patronage and corruption among those in high office. But within Wanita Umno, these issues are secondary to having their new "Iron Lady" at helm.

For Wanita Umno - which makes up slightly over half of Umno's membership - Shahrizat is pedigree with a proven track record that also appeals to the grassroots.

Grassroots are well aware that Shahrizat once owned one of the biggest law firms in the country before politics and that she had survived attacks from her predecessor Rafidah Aziz, the original "Iron Lady of Malaysia" who led Wanita Umno for a decade.

But most recently, she survived the biggest crisis in her political career - her association with the National Feedlot Centre (NFC), which was awarded to a company belonging to her family in 2008 while she was a cabinet minister. Shahrizat had repeatedly stressed that  she was not involved in the project.

Eventually, the NFC episode forced her out of cabinet in dramatic fashion but her clout allowed her to continue on as Wanita Umno chief and campaign effectively during the general election in May.

Full circle

Now, Shahrizat is back in government after Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak created for Shahrizat the position of Special Adviserto the Prime Minister for Women and Social Development Affairs, which is a ministerial equivalent.

There is no doubt that Najib's firm backing for Shahrizat was a message timed for this election, which read: "if Shahrizat is good enough for the premier, she is good enough to lead Wanita Umno".

Najib could have waited two months before making the appointment, but it seems dropping subtle hints for Wanita Umno members is not his style.

With this victory, Shahrizat has completed a full circle in her attempt to comeback into mainstream politics and her opponents outside the party now know that it will take more than the "cows in condos" jibe to dent her popularity in Umno.

Over at Umno Youth, there was suggestions that there could be protest votes against Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar "new approach" towards the movement.

Since his ascension as Umno Youth chief in 2009, Khairy had long been accused of abandoning the movement's original struggle (read: being extremely Malay centric) for a more "liberal" approach.

One of Khairy's four challengers made an issue of this, blaming his "liberal" approach for the rise of groups such as Perkasa, which constantly pressures the ruling party over Malay matters.

Khairy's minders have long poured scorn at that tag, preferring to refer to their boss as a "progressive" instead.

But judging from the voting trend, Umno's grassroots are more interested in results rather than arguing about semantics.

Change of tack

Despite not having a minister's position that traditionally comes with being the Umno Youth chief, Khairy had spent his time over the past four years shoring up support from divisions that may have once dismissed him as nothing more than Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s son-in-law and a "Fourth floor operative".

Khairy has also been able to concentrate on his involvement in Umno Youth and BN Youth, organising youth-centric activities such as multiple job fairs, a cabinet internship programme and the Bantuan Lesen 1Malaysia programme among others.

Umno Youth would not be what it is if not for the occassional display of bravado and Khairy can serve that too. Remember how he and his comrades charged into the FRU during Bersih 2?

But more importantly, Khairy has been able to present a different face of Umno Youth - one that possesses a leader that is genuinely capable of debating the opposition, one that consistently won't shy away from hostile crowds at public forums and one that is believes in inclusive activities.

In short, Khairy had managed to set himself apart from his predecessors by displaying an ability to swap the keris and typical Umno ultra-Malay rhetorics for eloquence and ideas in his main arsenal.

It is this Khairy - one with savvy tweets about policies one minute before seamlessly segueing to a tweet on the recent Metallica concert - which Pakatan Rakyat fears. 

If typical Umno-styled rhetorics are deemed fodder for Pakatan, they will rarely find any coming from this version of Khairy.