The True Meaning Of Sacrifice Is Not A RM250 Million Golden Handshake

Why won’t the ridiculous BN politicians who go on and on about Shahrizat relinquishing her ministerial post, go away and do a lot of soul-searching and ask how on earth Shahrizat could have made a "major sacrifice"?

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin cannot have been serious when he used the word "sacrifice" to express gratitude to Women Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.

What sacrifice did Shahrizat actually make? Will the rakyat see justice? Will the money and interest be returned?

Shahrizat held on to her position and denied that she had anything to do with this scandal until the UMNO hierarchy made her into a sacrificial lamb, to save UMNO, BN and the whole government machine.

The National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) which was controlled by Shahrizat’s husband and children, had swindled RM250 million of tax payer’s money and bought a string of luxury condominiums, a car, overseas holidays, pilgrimage trips and more.

Further purchases may come to light if the trial is not a farce like the ones for which the Malaysian courts are famous.

Initially, Shahrizat claimed that she knew nothing of the affairs of the NFC and that it had nothing to do with her. Only a blind, deaf and dumb spouse does not know what their other half gets up to. Also, most good mothers know what their children are doing.

In this country, there are two sets of rules: one for us and another for the privileged lot, like Shahrizat and her colleagues.

Most people who are accused of lesser crimes, or those who have withheld information to pervert the course of justice, have been escorted from their offices by a security guard and told to leave immediately.

Not so Shahrizat, who has been given a lot of face by the PM Najib Abdul Razak. Perhaps, he is afraid of what she might do to topple him.

Shahrizat was the unlucky one. It is alleged that most if not all, of the ministers and their elected officials, have similar scandals which they milk to their hearts’ content.

Again, Shahrizat is unlucky in that the NFC project is something which most people can easily identify with. Talk to the poor farmer in the rural areas or the agricultural student who has applied for some project involving livestock. They know what it feels like to be rejected.

If not for the relentless efforts of the Strategic Director of PKR, Rafizi Ramli, and the whistleblowers within the NFC, none of the sordid details of Shahrizat’s abuse of power would have been revealed.

Now, the other UMNO/BN leaders have to be scrutinised and be made accountable.

Muhyiddin congratulated Shahrizat for making the bold and difficult decision for someonein her position. He said, "This is a major sacrifice from someone who is leading a party (UMNO) wing."

Shahrizat is a back door minister. She lost her seat in the 2008 election to a newcomer Nurul Izzah Anwar. Shahrizat was retained in former PM Abdullah Badawi’s cabinet as a special advisor, but when Najib became Prime Minister, he made Shahrizat a Senator the day before announcing that she would be made a minister.

So like Najib, Shahrizat was not elected.

Shahrizat’s term as senator expires on the 8th April. She is just staying in office until the end of her term. She has not resigned, nor was she sacked.

Najib is a weak leader and because of his impotence and his poor judgment, the rakyat went wild whilst in his UMNO/BN party, morale dropped.

Many will wonder why Shahrizat is not resigning her Wanita UMNO position. This is perhaps a judicious move so that she can keep her enemies close to her and know what they are plotting.

With criminal breach of trust (CBT) charges being leveled at her husband, people are wondering if a deal has been struck between Shahrizat and the government to protect her children from the sins of their parents.

Perhaps, that is Shahrizat’s sacrifice; the end of her political career, in exchange for her children’s freedom.

If both Shahrizat and Muhyiddin want to know what sacrifice is, it is easy.

It is the children who have to give up their schooling to help their disabled mothers or their single parent to take care of the other eight mouths in the family.

It is also the women who have had to give up their education to take care of their children who were born when they were raped by the loggers in the Baram area of Sarawak.

It is the grandmother who has to take care of her grandchildren because her daughter and son-in-law died of HIV-Aids because safe sex is not practised in many of the rural households.

It is the poor farmer who has to sell his daughter to help him pay for the seed and fertilizer to ensure his crops can grow.

It is the Orang Asli and Indigenous People who gave up their ancestral heartlands and their way of life for the greed of most politicians, not just Taib Mahmud, the Chief Minister of Sarawak.

So don’t talk about sacrifice, unless you fully understand the meaning of the word.

Marina Mahathir