Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Licence to laugh: Why Rosmah is the most vilified woman of her time in Malaysia.

This year’s Oscar for the most  vilified woman of her time in Malaysia.
najib2
Maslan
While I agree with her sentiments, I cannot help but ask myself why is everything politicised? All this has given the opposition fodder to vilify the government and feed us their own propaganda.
While we will no doubt be treated to an impressive verbal sparring in the coming days, nothing will be achieved at the end of the day.
Apparently all we can do for now is sit back and smirk while those with silver spoons stuck in their mouths tell us to tighten our belts.

Many Malaysians deplored Rosmah Mansor’s insensitive remark that she now had to pay about US$330 for her stylist to dye her hair.
“We have to wear beautiful clothes to attend functions, but the prices are way too high. [...] what about housewives like us, with no income?” Malaysian Insider quoted Rosmah as saying, oblivious to fellow citizens facing difficulties in trying to make ends meet.
 
Before handing over the best film award to the first Mexican director to have ever won it, Penn pouted, “Who gave this son of a bitch a green card?” Director Alejandro G Inarritu took it in good humour, saying he shares a history of tough jokes with the actor. Inarritu’s own speech appealed to America to treat new immigrants with the same dignity and respect given to those who came before and built this nation. But lots of folks think Penn went over the top, insulted Latinos. They are outraged, fuming. If it were Malaysia, by now there would have been many demands for cops, courts, state to do something. Worse, these wouldn’t be ignored – as MCA  discovered to their dismay.
One person’s laugh can sink another into sobriety, that’s the way humour goes. Immediately after the best documentary filmmaker declared that Edward Snowden’s disclosures expose a threat not only to Americans’ privacy but democracy itself, the Oscar host declared that Snowden could not attend for some “treason”. That sort of robust political joke would itself be seen as treason in India.
Art by its very nature is contested terrain. Its genius, material value and social implications are constantly being debated. What’s beyond debate is that no state can or should be the arbiter of this debate. So it is very welcome news that  a majority of ’s demand for sweeping powers over language, sex and violence. In diverse, dynamic democracies matters of taste and morality should be left to people to feud over – with the state ensuring only that this is done without violence.
Tears of joy bathed my cheeks as I felt an immense weight lifted off my chest. Let’s all rise and say “Hallelujah” as the Lord has listened to our prayers.

 Lim Kit Siang today demanded that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak clarify a statement given to the New York Times (NYT) about the sources of his wealth.
He said Najib must not remain silent in the face of “national and international controversy” following the February 9 NYT report, which quoted the Prime Minister’s Office as saying: “Neither any money spent on travel, nor any jewellery purchases, nor the alleged contents of any safes are unusual for a person of the prime minister’s position, responsibilities and legacy family assets.”
Lim noted that Najib’s four brothers, in a statement to the press yesterday, expressed concern that the controversy would tarnish the name of their father, Abdul Razak Hussein, who was Malaysia’s Prime Minister between 1970 and 1976.
Lim agreed with Najib’s brothers that Abdul Razak was known for his frugality.
“I can vouch that Tun Razak was known for his frugality and utmost integrity and I had on no occasion in my years in Parliament from 1971 to 1976, when he was the Prime Minister, to raise any issue casting any doubt on his integrity.”
He said the PMO’s statement to NYT had put the reputations of father and son at stake, and Najib must immediately clarify it with a simple and full statement.
“Or is Najib preparing to make a ministerial statement on the subject on the first debate day in Parliament on March 10?,” he asked.

Our admirable First Lady Rosmah Mansor has gotten a new sidekick who is none other than Ahmad Maslan, the Deputy Finance Minister as they have joined forces for the betterment of mankind (limited only to the lucky citizens of Malaysia).
A few days back, Rosmah lamented that she was being overcharged for her custom made dresses and bouffant hairdo (I’m secretly and inexplicably fascinated by it) and that those days of injustice are over with the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Ahmad Maslan, moved by her plight, has proposed that there should be a price guide for tailors, hairstylists, beauticians, plumbers, electricians and so on in order to curb overcharging in the post-GST period.
Obviously the predicament of our First Lady far outweighs that of the common folk. Nothing happened when the people said a loud and resounding “NO” to the implementation of GST or at least to start it off easy so that we wouldn’t crumble from its weight.

why Rosmah is the most vilified woman of her time in Malaysia.While she had claimed to represent the working class, she was quick to defend the government’s cut in wages and spending and introducing new taxes.
the wife of Prime Minister Najib Razak about how much she must spend on her hair and other needs

“But what critics and admirers did agree on was that she would come across as a woman of irony. ”
Really ? Don’t know who these critics and admirers are but this is not irony, it’s hypocrisy.
It’s not that she has vulgarly expensive taste. It’s not that she spends her husband’s money or even that she doesn’t seem to understand how some people may her hate for simply being who she is.
No, the reason she makes dogs howl and cats screech is because her excesses are funded from public coffers.
There is no big mystery to Rosmah unless one finds the idea of women married to men in power co looting with their husbands, hard to fathom.
Soon the people, especially the working class built resentment against the first couple who now seemed detached from reality with their jet-setting lifestyle and her particular taste for the finer things in life.
Her critics began likening her to Marie Antoinette – the executed former Queen of France and her now infamous “let them eat cake” remark.“Megalomaniac” was just one description of her by a political analyst.
Still, her influence had already spread far and wide – including the corridors of power, where she is first to have access and in some cases give her approval of her husband’s schedule.
Her love for song and stage is legendary and began from her time as a little girl where she would dream of the big cities where, in her own words are “marvellous places, where nothing was given but wealth”.
Many official functions would see her in attendance and grabbing the limelight from her spouse who would often be left standing behind her. However, being upstaged by his wife was the least of the nation’s chief executive’s problems.
With a tanking economy and a more hard-line approach to quell dissent and criticism, he was also losing support among the middle class, where arbitrary arrests and imprisonments were becoming the norm.
But this and several coups attempts did not stop Juan Peron from becoming President of Argentina three times in over 20 years. And yet, he is still remembered today by most of the world simply as the husband of Eva Peron.
 even when her husband’s own popularity among the masses and his own circle was waning she made sure they continue to support him – through impassioned pleas, threats and financial gratifications.
There had been increasing distrust and dislike of her by the rest of the Cabinet as she positioned herself as the stand-in for her husband – the country’s leader – when he is indisposed.
She had never hidden the fact that she would be very comfortable to fill that role permanently. She was already enjoying all the wealth and power that comes with being the First Lady. The potential of unfettered wealth and power was tantalising to say the least.
Due to her inherent power and control of several key personalities in the Police and Military, there were half-hearted attempts to oust her as well as her husband.It did not augur well for the detractors and political enemies that they too had skeletons in their closet from ill-gotten wealth to mistresses.
Her taste for luxury came from a childhood that was far from what she became accustomed to when she married the man who would one day be the nation’s leader. She eyed him when he was a greenhorn politician, still trying to earn his place in the eyes of his elders. critics and admirers did agree on was that she would come across as a woman of irony. While preaching to women folk of the need for austerity, the benefits of budgeting and tightening one’s belt in a time of economic difficulties, she would be decked to the nines.
It was not uncommon to see her leaving an event for single mothers and heading straight to a boutique or home for a house call. As it is with such powerful personalities, you can summon the boutique to come to you.
 the need for equal opportunities and controlling one’s urges to overspend, she would be trying on the latest couture gown from Dior (one of her favourites), jewellery from Van Cleef & Arpels among others or even custom-made Salvatore Ferragamo shoes.
While styling herself as “The First Lady of Charity” by heading an influential welfare association, she had to ward of accusations that such outfits were a front to channel funds into Swiss accounts in hers and her husband’s name.
Even government programmes which were dressed up as people-oriented projects to uplift poverty or increase the nation’s wealth were alleged to be projects to secure the First Couple’s retirement.Rosmah
I mean why bother about the cost of health care that keeps snowballing. There has only been a 20-50% increase in the costs which is expected to increase even further this year. Thank goodness only 320 types of medications out of 4,200 are subjected to GST. Never mind the fact that, the same type of medicine produced by a different brand is considered different. Somewhere in the near future people will willingly crawl into their graves rather than hop onto a hospital stretcher. A quick death would seem more welcome than a crippling debt that you will spend all your life trying to pay off.
Why bother about the rising cost of education? It is after all the only means for middle and lower class people to break free from the shackles of poverty especially those without any special privileges that some politician decades ago decided was to be the birthright of a select few.
Nurul Izzah pounced on the news of price guides for house calls like a hungry tigress on a baby gazelle and shot out a statement saying that all it took for Putrajaya to sit up and take notice of our financial woes was Rosmah’s hair.



1 comment:

  1. Honestly, billions are missing and with all the stupid excuses. Come on, how the fuck can a sovereign wealth fund pay billions to the wrong company. Are uneducated machi's running 1 MDB. Dumb country and even dumber people

    ReplyDelete