Rosmah is an easy target

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's wife, Rosmah Mansor, has been getting bashed left, right and centre by her detractors of late.



The most recent 'Rosmah-bashing' session took place after she was presented with an honorary doctorate by Curtins University in Australia supposedly for her work in child education.


Just before that, she was embroiled in a shopping spree saga in a Sydney boutique belonging to Australian designer Carl Kapp during which she allegedly spent A$100,000 on clothes.


Last year, pictures of a diamond ring apparently worth RM24 million (or RM73 million, depending on which blog post you read) were posted on the Internet and the buyer was alleged to have been Rosmah.


In fact, a fake Utusan Malaysia page with a fake report that Rosmah saved money daily to buy the ring was created by someone - obviously from the anti-Barisan Nasional camp - and was posted all over Net.


Rosmah has been bashed so much that one does not really know whether to sympathise with her or mutter "serves her right".


The question is this: Why does the wife of the current Prime Minister have so many detractors? Why is she criticised so often?


Nobody bashed the wives of former Prime Ministers Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.


Could it be because Rosmah is more visible and therefore becomes an easy target for her detractors?


Whatever the reason, Rosmah must bear in mind that by being the Prime Minister's wife, she is a very public and important person who is always in the spotlight and everyone - both her admirers and (especially) her detractors - will be watching her every move.


Her detractors - and many are from the Opposition Pakatan Rakyat camp - will be waiting for her to make a mistake, use a wrong word, say the wrong thing, buy something extraordinary and pounce on her to bash her up.


They will snap lots of photos of her in public, record her every public appearance with camcorders or smartphones, and scrutinise every detail of what she is wearing. They will want to know whether her dress is from an expensive designer collection from Australia, whether her handbag is a Berkin, whether her ring and bracelet are from an American jeweller. They will want to know how many designer handbags she has and their colours, the types of leather they are made of - ostrich or salt-water crocodile skin - and whether they are off-the-shelf items or limited editions.


Rosmah must realise that this is the Internet age and information is merely a click away. Whatever jewellery (costume or designer) and handbags that she has while attending public functions can be cross-checked with the catalogues in the websites of designers and jewellers.


For her own sake, Rosmah must somehow become less visible and deny her detractors and Pakatan Rakyat strategists the opportunities to bash her.

When will we moo-ve on from Cowgate?

When will Malaysians moo-ve on away from the so-called 'Cowgate' issue?


Not in the near future. This scandal is too juicy as it involves a Minister in the Barisan Nasional government - Women, Families and Communities Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil - and her family members.


It also involves lots of public money - the family of Datuk Seri Shahrizat is alleged to have used some of the RM250 million in soft government loans meant to develop a cattle project to pay for luxury condos in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, expensive overseas trips and a Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class.


Though Shahrizat's husband Datuk Seri Dr Mohamed Salleh Ismail who heads National Feedlot Corp, the company at the centre of the controversy, has defended the investments in the condos in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur, as being 'cash cows' that bring in rental income and Shahrizat has filed a defamation suit against her enemies, more (cow) shit has emerged to hit the fan.


To be expected, Pakatan Rakyat leaders have exploited the Cowgate issue to the maximum. Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has been using the Cowgate issue in his ceramahs and his sodomy case has been conveniently forgotten.


Barisan Nasional leaders seem unable to find a way to stop all the mud (or is it cow dung?) flung by Pakatan Rakyat leaders from smearing them.


At the moment, Pakatan Rakyat seems to be having the moral highground and Barisan is ineffectively fighting fires in the cow shed.


The only way for the Barisan government to clean up the shit is for someone to resign and for someone to be charged (and convicted; otherwise Pakatan will say it was a show trial).


Then Malaysians can finally moo-ve on....till some other whistleblower leaks out another scandal.

Anwar acquittal: Barisan wins

Now that Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has been acquitted on the charge of sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, many opinions have been expressed on who the winner really is.


Anwar's supporters quickly said that he is the winner as he had said all along that he was an innocent victim of political conspiracy involving Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who was then the Deputy Prime Minister.


But I put forward a contrarian view that the Barisan Nasional government is the actual winner.


Everybody had expected the courts to be 'instructed' by its political masters to find Anwar guilty, and the surprising acquittal has actually given the image of the judiciary a boost.


And the political masters have been quick to turn a legal loss to a political victory - Prime Minister Najib and former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohamad have immediately stated that the acquittal simply shows that the judiciary is truly independent and the executive (i.e. the political masters) does not meddle around with the judges.


Anwar's acquittal also means he can stand in the coming general elections - thus it deprives the Opposition of the opportunity to hammer the Barisan government for conspiring to lock Anwar up to prevent him from being a potential Prime Minister.


His acquittal actually removes at least two bullets from the anti-Barisan arsenal of Pakatan.


Of course there is another possible conclusion to this sodomy charge - the prosecution appeals, the hearing is held after the elections (when Anwar presumably gets elected as MP) and the higher court overturns the verdict made by the lower court. Hmmm, maybe that was the original intention of the Barisan strategists in the first place?

Two fall guys and a fall gal?

Former Selangor Mentri Besar Dr Mohamed Khir Toyo was sentenced to 12 months' jail today for abusing his power as Chief Minister by buying a bungalow worth RM6.5 million for RM3.5 million and has filed an appeal.


Soon after the court announced its decision, Dr Khir told Malaysian Insider that he was "made a political fall guy".


The former Selangor Mentri Besar has maintained his innocence, insisting that the deal was at market value and on a “willing buyer, willing seller” basis, the Malaysian Insider reported.


If what Dr Khir said is true, then the political leaders could have decided to make him the sacrificial lamb to show the people that the Barisan Nasional government is walking the talk regarding tackling of corruption involving those in positions of power and even those from Umno.


This could possibly be the way - at least in the minds of the Barisan political strategists - to win back some votes in the coming general elections.


The question now is whether there will be another political fall guy and a fall gal.


It is interesting to note that another event with far-reaching consequences occurred today - Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission officers raided the office of the National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp) at Solaris Mont Kiara, Kuala Lumpur.


NFCorp runs the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) in Gemas, which has been at the centre of a storm of controversy ever since the Auditor-General highlighted the publicly-funded cattle raising project as “a mess” in his report this year.


It is headed by Datuk Seri Dr Mohamed Salleh Ismail, husband to Women, Family and Community Minister and Wanita Umno chief Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil. Their children are also directors in the company.


Today’s raid follows an announcement by MACC yesterday that it would investigate allegations the NFC had misappropriated government funds, despite previously saying it would not probe the matter, the Malaysian Insider reported.


The MACC also confirmed yesterday it had remanded a businessman, said to be a Datuk, for questioning in relation to the case.


The 45-year-old suspect had earlier been detained by police for allegedly trying to bribe senior CCID officers believed to be involved in the NFC probe, reported the Malaysian Insider.


Could this MACC raid mean that someone at the top has decided to apply pressure to 'convince' Datuk Seri Shahrizat to resign? After all several political leaders including former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad have either blatantly said or blatantly hinted that she should resign.


And who's the most likely candidate to be the other possible fall guy?


On Jan 27 next year, former Transport Minister Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik will know whether he has to enter his defence in the Port Klang Free Zone trial.


Dr Ling was charged in July last year with knowingly deceiving the Cabinet into approving land purchase for the Port Klang Free Zone, which resulted in wrongful losses for the government, according to the Malaysian Insider.


The former Minister also faces two alternative charges of deceiving the Cabinet into believing that the purchase at RM25 psf and the 7.5 per cent interest rate were acknowledged and agreed to by the Valuation and Property Services Department despite knowing that there was no such agreement.

Umno's attempt to split PAS?

Things have come to a head in PAS with Selangor executive councillor Datuk Dr Hasan Ali and former deputy president Nasharudin Mat Isa openly criticising the party for deviating from its Islamic path.


Then again, this confrontation is not really surprising or unexpected given the sequence of events and the newspapers and TV station involved in the developments leading to the very public spat that has been played up by Barisan-controlled newspapers.


The Malaysian Insider reported that Datuk Dr  Hasan Ali and Nasharudin Mat Isa criticised the party for ostensibly deviating from its Islamic agenda, during interviews with Umno-linked Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian.


"Hasan has also been featured almost nightly on TV3, criticising the party that removed him as Selangor chief after its muktamar in June," The Malaysian Insider reported. It is widely known that TV3 is also Umno-linked.


In May, Utusan had reported (falsely) that Christian pastors were teaming up with DAP to install a Christian as Prime Minister and have Christianity as the state religion instead of Islam.


On Aug 3,  the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS) carried out a search during a dinner, organised by non-governmental organisation Harapan Komuniti, at the Dream Centre Complex in Petaling Jaya belonging to Damansara Utara Methodist Church following a tip-off about an alleged attempt to proselytise Muslims at the event.


Two other Umno-linked newspapers - Berita Harian and Harian Metro - reported that Christian organizations were carrying out covert missions to convert poverty-stricken Muslims by offering them cash, free food and housing and the reports appeared days after the JAIS raid on DUMC.


Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim had quickly expressed regret over the raid and gave his assurance that the Pakatan Rakyat-contolled Selangor state government fully respects freedom of religion and rights of religious groups to manage their affairs in the state.


But Hasan broke ranks to support the JAIS raid.


By then, the pieces of the puzzle were beginning to fit into the bigger picture and it became 'visible' that all the plots - from the false allegations about Christians plotting with DAP (which is a member of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition) to instal a Christian Prime Minister and have Christianity as the national religion to the allegations about Christians using money, food and housing to proselytise Muslims - were crafted to cause a split between the moderates and the so-called ulamaks in PAS using the minority and hapless Christians as the bait.


Hence complaints by Malaysian Christians that the political leaders went on a Christian bashing spree to win Malay and Muslim votes seem justified.


Now the question is how the Malay and Muslim voters perceive the situation - do they see the criticism of PAS by Hasan and Nasharudin as justified or do they see it as an obvious Umno-orchestrated attempt to split the party?

Cows in the condos

Where's the best place in Malaysia to rear cows? In condos, it would seem.


The cows-in-the-condo issue is the kind of scandal that the Najib administration does not need, especially now when the next general elections are to held within months.


Essentially the issue began when the Government approved a loan of RM250 million at an interest rate of 2% (i.e. a very soft loan) to the National Feedlot Corp (NFC), which happened to be controlled by family members of Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.


Her husband Datuk Seri Dr Mohamed Salleh Ismail and their three kids run the 'cattle' show.


Sure they started a cow business in the form of a cattle farm in Negri Sembilan, but somehow 'excess' cash was invested in two luxurious condos - each costing RM6.9 million -  in Bangsar which the NFC managers claim are cash cows since they generate rental income of RM18,000 each.


The entire issue was exposed not by the Opposition parties but a government agency - the Auditor-General had described NFC as a mess, and that it was poorly managed and had met only 41.1% of its target for 2010 in its latest report.


But Agriculture Minister Datuk Seri Noh Omar quickly defended Shahrizat's family business and said that the project was a success and had met its targets.


Soon after that politicians from both sides of the divide jumped into the fray - the Barisan folks obviously defending Shahrizat and her family and the Pakatan blokes attacking them.


Malaysians who had no family connections with the top leaders merely tucked into their beef rendang or beef noodles and watched the proceedings.


This kind of 'family' business is exactly the type that most Malaysians are unhappy about since it benefits families of politicians only.


Thus the grouses of Malaysians - even from bumiputras - that they do not benefit from Government decisions would seemingly be justified.


One can argue that there is rental income and there is no loss. On the other hand, one can also argue that public funds meant for cattle rearing should not be invested in condos (unless, of course, one can rear cows in a condo).


But the fact remains that the entire cow business has smeared the reputation of the Barisan government especially with a Minister refuting the findings of a government agency tasked with auditing the finances and operations of the government.


With the elections coming soon, the Barisan government would need to lock up the 'cows' that are still in the closet while the Opposition - of course - would want to break the lock preventing all the 'cows' from stampeding out.


And the average Malaysians? They will still eat beef noodles and beef curry and beef rendang while waiting for more (cow) shit to hit the fan.

The Greek tragicomedy

Well, if you thought the situation in Malaysia is bad, you have to read this...




Author Michael Lewis on the Greek Tragicomedy


Published: Monday, 31 Oct 2011
By: Bob Pisani
CNBC Reporter



I was on Power Lunch recently with Michael Lewis, author of "Boomerang" and many other books. "Boomerang" is a series of essays on the problems that Iceland, Ireland and others have had due to the global debt  crisis. I spent the weekend reading the book, and there is a very amusing chapter on a visit he made to Greece a short while ago. Excerpts below.


On the true debt of Greece: "In addition to its roughly $400 billion (and growing) of outstanding government debt, the Greek number cruncher had just figured out that their government owed another $800 billion or more in pensions. Add it all up and you got about $1.2 trillion, or more than a quarter-million dollars for every working Greek….And those were just the official numbers; the truth is surely worse."


On the absurd wages paid in the government sector: "In just the past twelve years the wage bill of the Greek public sector has doubled, in real terms — and that number doesn't take into account the bribes collected by public officials. The average government job pays almost three time the average private-sector job." 　


On the comical inefficiencies of the public sector: "The national railroad has annual revenues of 100 milion euros against an annual wage bill of 400 million, plus 300 million euros in other expenses…Twenty years ago a successful businessman turned minister of finance named Stefanos Manos pointed out that it would be cheaper to put all Greece's rail passengers into taxicabs: it's still true."


On who caused the debt crisis in Greece: "The biggest problem the banks had was that they had lent roughly 30 billion euros to the Greek government--where it was stolen or squandered. In Greece the banks didn't sink the country. The country sank the banks."


On the banality of tax cheating: "The scale of Greek tax cheating was at least as incredible as its scope: an estimated two-thirds of Greek doctors reported incomes under 12,000 euros a year — which meant, because incomes below that amount weren't taxable, that even plastic surgeons making millions a year paid no tax at all….'If the law was enforced," the tax collector said, "every doctor in Greece would be in jail.'"


"One reason no one is ever prosecuted — apart from the fact that prosecution would seem arbitrary, as everyone is doing it — is that the Greek courts take up to fifteen years to resolve tax cases…Somewhere between 30 and 40 percent of the activity in the Greek economy that might be subject to income tax goes unrecorded…"


On the supposed deception the Greeks used to get into the euro zone in 2001:


"In particular they needed to show budget deficits under 3 percent of their gross domestic product, and inflation running at roughly German levels. In 2000, after a flurry of statistical manipulation, Greece hit the targets. To lower the budget deficit the Greek government moved all sorts of expenses (pensions, defense expenditures) off the books. To lower Greek inflation the government did things like freeze prices for electricity and water and other government-supplied goods, and cut taxes on gas, alcohol, and tobacco. Greek government statisticians did things like remove (high-priced) tomatoes from the consumer price index on the day inflation was measured."


"In 2001, Greece entered the European Monetary Union, swapped the drachma for the euro, and acquired for its debt an implicit European (read German) guarantee. Greeks could now borrow long-term funds at roughly the same rate as Germans — not 18 percent but 5 percent."


"Here, in 2001, entered Goldman Sachs, which engaged in a series of apparently legal but nonetheless repellent deals designed to hide the Greek government's true level of indebtedness…The investment bankers also taught the Greek government officials how to securitize future receipts from the national lottery, highway tolls, airport landing fees, and even funds granted to the country by the European Union. Any future stream of income that could be identified was sold for cash up front and spent."


On witnessing a general strike to protest raising the retirement age: "Thousands upon thousand of government employees take to the streets to protest the bill. Here is Greece's version of the Tea Party: tax collectors on the take, public-school teachers who don't really teach, well-paid employees of bankrupt state railroads whose trains never run on time, state hospital workers bribed to buy overpriced supplies."