Rosmah is an unusual politician. Perhaps even her worst critics might grant her that her speech to business leaders to deliver a keynote address at the 4th Qatar International Business Women Forum in Doha, has been written about and discussed by many, in part because this was first time he engaged with this constituency but also because of what he said. Instead of addressing issues of direct interest to business, he chose to focus on his diagnosis of what was needed in a larger sense- linking aspiration with empowerment, and making the case yet again for real inclusion.Whatever Rosmahi’s flaws might be, to label him as a generic dynasty is to do him disservice. Those that rail against his student-like approach to the world and equate that with dimness and political naivete forget that it is the easiest thing in the world to speak like a politician or indeed like an industry leader. If indeed as is widely alleged on social media,Rosmah is incapable of articulating her own thoughts and merely reads out other people’s ideas, then for her to mouth the usual platitudes about growth, development and inclusiveness would take very little. Other products of political dynasties do this with great smoothness, we see them slip into their legacies noiselessly, gradually filling out their allotted spaces with increasingly greater conviction that is laced with ever slicker patter.
The battle in 2014 is not only about who will run the country but about where the country heading today and what drives its voters. The difference in not merely in strategy but in the reading of how much UMNOI has changed and an understanding of how elections work in this country.When we go out of our way to create this inequality in the first place in other realms of life. In some ways,our excessive regard for Rosmah is the reason why there are no limits to the power enjoyed by the political class. It is true that all power need not manifest itself through formal channels alone, indeed it is inevitable that a degree of extra-official power will always be exercised in any structure.There are several examples of the love for informal power and this transcends the political class that we love to hate.In Rosmah ’s case, this was seen in the manner in which using a government jet Clearly judging from Pengerang MP Azalina Othman’s statement, the said event was not a state affair. If the wife of a prime minister gets the invitation, I am sure she can attend it on her personal capacity and pay for her expenses, just like any international traveller. But this is not the case. As always, half-baked Third World politicians and their equally half-baked halves would want to impress people in the First World by the trappings of the West. Then Rosmah and gang needs five star hotels, fine foods and private jet to shore up their handicapped conditions. Lee Kuan Yew observed the same phenomenon a long time ago. On his way home from London to Singapore, he saw row after row of gleaming private jets used by African politicians to ferry them around, while Lee had to catch up a commercial flight home. Perhaps Third World people are gullible, and easily fooled by their politicians and their wives. we see as special are accorded the status of being above rules. The powerful earn the right to break rules, even if, as in the politicians, their job might be to make and enforce these very rules. We cannot condemn political dynasties as being undemocratic..what’s new? they have ‘justified’ everything from altantuya, tbh, pkfz, cowgate, etc………the same guys are in still power and in-charge. surprising? that’s why malaysia is heading for the abyss and pitifully, innocent malaysians are really going to suffer from this bunch of immoral, shameless, gutless,
But when this informal power is accorded official and institutional sanction, and this is done with a degree of unsolicited eagerness, that we have to ask as to whether we deserve the leadership we have.Although on surface the cases seem to be very different in terms of scale and implications, they reveal something familiar and unsettling. In cases, what is unmistakable is the legitimacy that informal power Rosmah enjoys Accompanying her were Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, who is special adviser to the prime minister on women entrepreneurs and professionals; Datin Seri Siti Rubiah Datuk Abdul Samad, wife of Foreign Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman; Datin Seri Khamarzan Ahmad Meah, wife of International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed; and Datin Seri Che Kamariah Zakaria, wife of Second Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh.
If Sharizat was found guilty in the cowgate incident, is Rosmah’s abuse of power any different? Now Najib must explain his role in this incident.This DPM spends the rakyats’ money like his own. No accountability and integrity. He does not know simple arithmetic; value of money. Remember, he allocated RM1m for a school with only 15 students. This incident is so apparent, that he used rakyats’ money to polish his BOSS’s apple. Maybe he could not get near to his BOSS, so he thought this would be an easier way. If this is the caliber of DPM, what caliber are the rest of the cabinet members, who sat in the meeting and allowed it to be approved? They too are parties to the approval and polishing their BOSSES’ apples. This is the type of leaders we are going to have G14. Don’t blame ROSMAH but the person who approved it..If she was invited in her personal capacity, why should the rakyat bear the burden of expenses for the trip. In what capacity or under what category does this expense come under for the cabinet under DPM Muhyiddin to authorise use of public money for an unelected person? If PM had gone along on the same trip, then it will be considered ok. but what is the rationale when Rosmah had gone alone. Minutes of meeting can be rewritten with DPM as chairing the meeting since no requirement to file such minutes with a third party.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim (pic, right) has once again come to the aid of the Prime Minister’s wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, saying miracles do happen. And I am not talking of those that ‘God moves in mysterious ways…to perform’ because those do not need vouching for, they are truths which brook no argument. What I am saying is that WE—mere mortals—also work miracles! Yes we do, (or at least we can and definitely should)—without even realizing it! Wow, that is a momentous thought! We can all be conscientious miracle-worker like Rosmah Mansor , and it doesn’t take much effort either. Are you game?Each one of us has a self-image, flattering or otherwise; and we also have a degree of self-worth which is either reinforced, boosted or battered in our interactions with others. Agreed?
Now then, just hark back to the last occasion when you werepraised/appreciated/thanked for something you had said or done…strategy is about concentrating resources on a few fronts, intensifying the aura around an individual and hoping to cross the line with one big push. The first lady nature of her campaign has been widely commented upon, and noticeable as this approach makes her on media, it is a hugely risky bet to take.Opposition politicians earlier criticised the usage of the government jet, claiming it was an abuse of power, which Shahidan revealed was approved by the Cabinet.for sure that you would say it is state secret. However for the sake of clearing the PM’s name don’t you think it is better to clear the air by releasing the document? That been said, legality aside, it is still morally wrong for the government to use our taxpayers’ money to hire a private jet for an unelected member of the public to attend a conference. And she is said to be not representing the government in this women’s summit in Qatar. Just a little doubt, Azalina, with or without permission, may be dropping DPM’s name to help Najib. If it is then Najib owes his deputy one favour.In fact investors are afraid of a country that does not have a leader who has no honour and dignity. If there is a business dispute or problem face by the foreign investor, is Shahidan implied that Rosmah will come to their aid? If she is an asset to our nation why didn’t she come forward to help those London investors who were cheated by the local? no other first lady in the region gets the prominence she gets. That’s because no other first lady in the region travels in her personal capacity using taxpayer-funded government private jets.In effect Rosmah has placed herself at an existential cul-de-sac. Her is in a position to try and change things with her ideas, but only because of the power she derives as Prime Minister’s 2nd wife –a thought that violates the core of the very ideas that shown a thought that violates the core of the very ideas that she calls his own. The paradox is inescapable-according to her own framework, she has earned the rights she has illegitimately, and therefore everything that follows cannot be put into practice. She has convinced herself without genuine democratisation, all other questions are ‘smoke’ or ‘irrelevant’, and hence need not be engaged with. He rejects the idea of leadership itself in an attempt to efface the power that is her for the asking, at least till 2018. Rosmah thus stands perennially on the outside, looking in, disowning all that she led to her leadership, and shying away from any action that is enabled by the illegitimacy of her position,disembodied voice in the UMNO’ head, tentatively issuing abstract conceptual constructs while party tries to make its way forward in an increasingly hostile political landscape. The fatal flaw in ROSMAH’s argument is the existence of Najib and because he is only too aware of this, his leadership is almost by definition, a non-starter.
