Tengku Adnan: No Need to Pressure Shahrizat to Quit
(Bernama) – Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said there was no need to pressure Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil to quit as Wanita Umno chief.
“She was elected to the post, so why is this (calling her to quit) being raised,” he said when contacted by Bernama today.
He was commenting on the latest statement by Wanita Umno vice chief Datuk Kamilia Ibrahim who called on Shahrizat to give up the post in the interest of the credibility of Umno, the wing (Wanita Umno), the Barisan Nasional (BN) and the government.
Tengku Adnan said the statement by Kamilia was more of a personal nature.
“By right, such a statement should not have come about because the matter has been discussed and a decision taken that Shahrizat will continue to be Wanita Umno chief until the next term,” he stressed.
According to him, the call (to Shahrizat to quit) would not affect Umno.
Commenting on the briefing session by Prime Minister and Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to Wanita Umno members scheduled to be held here tomorrow, Tengku Adnan said it would be centred on election machinery and preparations to face the upcoming general election.
He said calls for Shahrizat to step down would not be on the agenda (of the briefing session).
On March 11, Shahrizat had announced that she would be stepping down as Women, Family and Community Development Minister when her term as Senator ended on April 8, but would continue to helm Wanita Umno and Wanita BN.
Her quitting as minister came in the wake of controversies plaguing the National Feedlot Centre, a cattle rearing project in Gemas managed by NFCorp, of which Shahrizat’s husband Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Salleh Ismail is the executive chairman.
The National Feedlot Centre is a project aimed at helping the country reduce beef imports. The government had provided a RM250 million soft loan for the project.
The Auditor-General in his 2011 report had stated the center had not met its scheduled beef production targets.
In a related event, on March 12, Muhamad Salleh was charged in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court with two counts of committing criminal breach of trust involving a total of RM49.7 million and two counts of violating the companies act.
