Is Shahrizat’s sacrifice for real?
After months of playing the guessing game, the minister finally gives up her Cabinet seat but not her party post.
Pressure for her to surrender came not only from both within Umno and Wanita Umno but also from Dr Mahathir Mohamad and former Wanita Umno chief Rafidah Aziz who thought it best for Shahrizat to resign to avoid being a burden to the party.
by Jeswan Kaur , FMT freelance columnist
Politicians conveniently forget that no post is theirs for good; whatever responsibility given to them comes with large doses of accountability. Previously, when former health minister Dr Chua Soi Lek made news for the wrong reason, having been caught on tape indulging in an extramarital affair, he refused to relinquish his Cabinet post and that of MCA chief.
Finally, with the intense pressure suffocating him, on Jan 2, 2008, the doctor decided to call it quits from politics. But it was not long before he returned to mainstream politics, vying for the MCA president’s post and later grabbing it with both hands.
Now, it is Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Jalil who tried doing a “Soi Lek” when she refused to let go of her ministerial post and that of Wanita Umno chief after it was revealed that her family had allegedly misused a RM250 million government soft loan for a cattle-breeding project under the National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp) to purchase luxury condominiums, vacations and a Mercedes car.
Shahrizat instead slapped a RM100-million law suit on PKR’s Wanita chief Zuraida Kamaruddin and its strategic director Rafizi Ramli for defamation.
Dubbed “Cowgate”, the scandal forced Pprime Minister Najib Tun Razak “to do the right thing” by “advising” Shahrizat, 58, to quit serving the rakyat. The NFCorp is headed by Shahrizat’s husband Dr Mohamed Salleh Ismail.
The scandal surfaced last year after the auditor-general’s annual report said the NFCorp managed by Shahrizat’s family failed to meet its goal of making the country 40% self-sufficient in beef production by 2010.
After months of playing the guessing game, Shahrizat yesterday announced her resignation from Cabinet once her term as senator ends on April 8.
Pressure for her to surrender came not only from both within Umno and Wanita Umno but also from Dr Mahathir Mohamad and former Wanita Umno chief Rafidah Aziz who thought it best for Shahrizat to resign to avoid being a burden to the party.
Still denying any wrongdoing, Shahrizat said her decision to quit had nothing to do with the cattle project run by her husband and three children but that she is stepping down as a “responsible member of the government”.
Why on earth is she “willing” to step down if she has not done anything wrong?
Why did Shahrizat give up her ministerial post?
Najib, meanwhile, said Shahrizat’s resignation was a sacrifice in the interest of the government and party.
“Although there is no proof so far that she had committed any offence in terms of law, because the (project) has drawn controversy and dispute, she was willing to withdraw from the government,” national Bernama news agency quoted him as saying.
That hardly seems so. Early last month she attempted to silence her detractors, insisting that the NFCorp scandal would have no effect on the ruling party Umno.
She went so far as to say that there was a “dichotomy” between her political role as head of the women’s wing and her personal one as the wife of NFCorp chairman Mohamad Salleh, who has been linked to the scandal by PKR.
“I stand here today as Wanita Umno chief. You’re not speaking to me as spouse of the CEO or the chairman (of NFCorp). Remember that you’re speaking to me as Wanita chief and minister for women, family and community development. Get that straight.”
And yet she decided to let go of her ministerial post.
Why?
