Rosmah used the private jet? So what?
The Third Force
On the 24th of March earlier this year, United States (US) President Barack Obama and his family boarded Air Force One for a leisure trip to Argentina. It was a family getaway, to be sure, but the trip was never marked on the presidential calendar. Yet, the US Secret Service felt it absolutely necessary for the country’s first couple and their children to use the presidential jet for the journey.
Closer to home, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, wife of Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak, courted scorn from members of the opposition pact over her use of a government sponsored private jet last month. According to PKR Secretary general Rafizi Ramli, Rosmah had boarded the jet for a trip to Istanbul, which the Malaysian Embassy in Turkey later confirmed was an official visit at the invitation of a financial services intelligence house based there, Cambridge IF Analytica.
So on one hand, we have America’s first family going off on vacation in a multi-million dollar jet, all paid for using taxpayer money and accompanied by members of a presidential protection detail. Not a single politician or House representative in the US had a problem with that, because Americans realise that dark tragedies can easily befall the first family owing to their stature and position in society.
On the other hand, we have the wife of the Malaysian PM going on official business to Istanbul, Turkey, at the invitation of a group that sees her contribution to the growth of children’s education, psychology and physique in Malaysia as worthy of honour. Yet, the opposition skated over her accomplishments and zeroed in on her use of the private jet, forgetting even to mention that it was on official business.
Do you see where I’m going with this?
Rafizi claims to be a political prodigy of sorts, but failed to comprehend a fundamental reality in the world of politics – that power has always been derived through the formation and manipulation of political factions. Pages in history are tainted with dark tragedies, many of them being the direct result of deliberate and secret planning by these factions. Think John F. Kennedy, and you’ll immediately realise why these plots almost always involve heads of states.
As a matter of fact, Kennedy’s assassination tells us exactly why we can never be too careful when it comes to persons of stature. On the day the former US president was assassinated, he was being escorted by the national presidential guard complete with a motorcade and all. Yet, he was brought down due to negligence on the part of the Secret Service, which some insist had conspired to finish him off for reasons we shan’t go into here. Notwithstanding the conspiracy, my point remains – you can never be too careful.
There is no telling if someone opposed to a leader or any of his actions might want him finished off, or is waiting for the right moment to spring an attack. In the US, thanks to policies adopted by the White House National Security Council (NSC), that moment can come only when the President is without a tactical defence cordon thrown around him. But that almost always never happens.
And it shouldn’t, because the President and members of his immediate family are regularly escorted by the finest security detail America has to offer as a matter of policy. For instance, the minute Michelle Obama steps outside the confines of the White House, tactical teams are at her disposal to chauffeur her anywhere she wants to go, be it in the presidential state car (nicknamed ‘The Beast’), or the presidential jetliner, the Air Force One.
Here in Malaysia, Rafizi is of the opinion that the only form of official transport Rosmah is entitled to is a pair of rollerblades, although I’m quite certain that the Pandan Member of Parliament (MP) would be agreeable to the idea of having Rosmah fly around on a very large kite.
To the opposition, the life of the PM or that of his family members is no concern of theirs. As a matter of fact, they don’t even give a rats ass about our rulers, as evidenced from the way Lim Kit Siang and Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim stepped beyond the constrains of decorum and issued an ultimatum to the Sultan of Selangor during Langkah Kajang.
So you see, it wouldn’t matter to the opposition if the PM were to disappear tomorrow – they’ll probably join Tun Dr. Mahathir in a celebratory procession downtown Kuala Lumpur chanting “We did it! Najib sudah tarak!”
Speaking of Mahathir, the fractured ex-premier just recently dared the police (PDRM) to drag him to court over the truckload of unfounded allegations he had hurled against Najib. The former premier went so far as to threaten the authorities by saying that he would pose questions relating to Rosmah’s use of a private jet for her trip to Istanbul, Turkey.
Here’s my question to the Tun – what exactly is your point?
That’s the whole problem with Mahathir – when it comes to taking the piss out of Najib or his wife, he never really has a point. As a matter of fact, both he (Mahathir) and his wife had used government sponsored private jets on more than one occasion to get from point A to point B even within the country. Yet, he wants to drive the impression that Najib had abused his position as PM by allowing his wife to use a government sponsored jet for leisure trips.
Do you ever see Bill Clinton or George W Bush criticizing Obama for allowing his family to use Air Force One? Do you ever hear the Republicans or the Democrats accusing Michelle Obama of abusing her privilege as the First Lady by using the presidential jet for non-official reasons? You don’t, because in America, people know how important it is to grant the President enough latitude to safeguard himself and his family.
I rest my case.
As for Mahathir, I implore anyone who is a responsible citizen of Malaysia and cares for the safety of the PM and his family to lodge a police report against him, on grounds that he had blackmailed the police against arrest by threatening to pose questions that may be deemed as injurious against the wife of the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
