Shahrizat's admission raises eyebrows

Dec 26: A statement by embattled Wanita UMNO leader Shahrizat Abdul Jalil suggesting that all UMNO leaders were tainted has invited a flurry of comments. PAS Youth's information chief Riduan Mohd Nor, saying there was nothing surprising about the statement, said Shahrizat, who is under pressure to resign following revelation of financial abuse in the government-funded National Feedlot Corporation, was effectively telling that every UMNO leader was corrupted. “Only that their (UMNO leaders') scandal have yet to be exposed and time will determine their faith in UMNO,” said Riduan. Amid increasing calls from within UMNO ranks for Shahrizat to resign over the NFC scandal which involved her husband, the Women, Family and Community Development minister was quoted by Chinese-language Sin Chew as saying that she was trying hard not to create more problems for UMNO. “Tell me, which UMNO leader does not have problem?” she asked as reported by the paper on December 18. According to Riduan, “no one is surprised” over her statement, adding that UMNO and corruption were synonymous, as shown in the corruption case involving former Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamad Khir Toyo who was sentenced a year for graft. “Besides Khir, there are many more UMNO leaders involved in all sorts of scandals,” he said. He added that this was the reason why the country's position in the corruption index took a dip for three consecutive years. Malaysia suffered its worst Corruption Perception Index prepared by Transparency International this year, being ranked at the 60th place and scoring 4.3, the lowest in 17 years. DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang meanwhile took to task the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission for failing to question Shahrizat as well as other UMNO leaders which she implied were tainted. “MACC should explain why their officers have not interrogated Shahrizat about the corruption scandals affecting all UMNO leaders in view of her statement," said Lim. The Ipoh Timur member of parliament said the MACC's about-turn from its earlier stance that the allegations against NFC should be investigated by the police had only shown that prime minister Najib Razak could no longer withstand public pressure. On Shahrizat's continued stay in cabinet, Lim said he would be surprised if she could survive by next year.