Najib Razak's account on how his beloved wife had helped him in two instances involving Malaysians abroad during the Arab Spring of 2011 has sent some critics through the roof. Chief among them was my ex-boss A. Kadir Jasin. His sarcasm-laden posting Antara Cinta dan Jasa* has gone viral, quoted freely and gleefully by friends and foes from The Malaysian Insider to OutSyed The Box.
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| AKJ aka The Scribe |
If she was that good and so connected. Kadir tells the Prime Minister, Why not make Rosmah Minister?
And once she has been made Minister, Najib may want to "re-evaluate" some members of his Cabinet, including Foreign Minister Anifah Aman. "... clearly (Anifah) is not as effective as Rosmah in settling international crises," Kadir adds.
Before he flew off to Europe for an official trip last night, Anifah shared some his thoughts with me on the matter.
This was what he told me, more or less:
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| Anifah: Life-and-death situation |
"My priority was the safety of Malaysians, especially our students.
"It was a life-and-death situation.
"We needed to evacuate and we needed to do it speedily, with the least hassle.
"I was in close contact with my counterparts (in Egypt and Saudi) throughout, to process the evacuation.
"The PM's wife had connections that I knew could help in a big way, especially under those circumstances.
"Why shouldn't she use those connections?
"And why shouldn't Wisma Putra accept help ?
"It was a life-and-death situation. As the Foreign Minister I would accept anyone's help, anyone at all, if it would ensure the safety of our people ...".
Anifah stressed that in the event of any such crisis in the future, he and Wisma Putra would not hesitate to accept help from anybody and any party if it would help guarantee the safety of fellow Malaysians.
There were more he wanted to say but the Minister had a flight to catch and we promised to pursue the matter.
In the meantime, some articles and pictures from the archives to remind us of the times of crises Anifah and the government were having to deal with when the Arab Spring reached Egypt, killing over 900 people in an 18-day bloody revolution. By any measure, I say Wisma Putra did a brilliant job.
* See also Big Dog's posting Replacement Minister
First batch of Malaysian students in Egypt to arrive in Jeddah by midnight tonight - 3 February 2011
After 30 years in powers, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is the most hated figure in Egypt
Mass riots by Egyptians, demanding Mubarak to end his 30 years rule, dominated the world media headlines.
Well it is not easy to evacuate 11,000 Malaysians in Egypt. However OPS PYRAMID is expected to bring all Malaysians out of Egypt in 4 or 5 days.
The plan is to transport all Malaysians out of Egypt via 5 aircrafts, 3 military aircrafts (C130 transport plane) and 2 commercial aircrafts (a MAS Boeing 747 and an Air Asia Airbus A 340) as well as a Malaysian Navy Ship (Bunga Mas 5).
All those Malaysians will be evacuated from Egypt to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia as transit point before going home to Malaysia.
News source - Bernama The Malaysian national news agency - 3 February 2011.
The first two planes operated by Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia, carrying about 600 Malaysian students from Egypt, are expected to arrive in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia by midnight today, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman said.
The Malaysia Airlines plane, a Boeing 747, and the AirAsia Airbus A340 plane left KL International Airport early this morning for Cairo.
"As soon as these planes arrive there, we will arrange to fly out the first batch of Malaysian students and we hope, if everthing goes well, they will arrive in Jeddah by midnight tonight," he told reporters, here today.
Anifah said the three C-130 transport aircraft belonging to the Malaysian air force, which left for Jeddah yesterday, would start flying out Malaysian students out of Egypt tomorrow morning.
"These three aircrafts need to cease from activity for 24 hours before resuming the normal flying activity.
"That's why these planes can only start operating shuttle service tomorrow. Altogether the three Malaysian air force planes could carry up to 750 passengers," he said.
Anifah said the Malaysian embassy in Egypt was working round-the-clock to ensure the mission to bring home Malaysian students from the troubled country, would run smoothly.
He said the situation, particular in the vicinity of the Malaysian embassy office in Egypt, was under control, saying it was located from away from the troubled Tahrir Square in Cairo.
Anifah said he would monitor the situation and the evacuation process very closely in view of the prevailing situation there. -- BERNAMA
Kalau najib dan gang tu tidak mampu dan cacat, biarlah Rosmah jadi PM, saya sokong!
ReplyDeletelobai faham ke apa yang ditulis dalam ingelish tu ? kalau tak paham dok diam2 lobai..
ReplyDeleteI do not think it was a life and death situation. It is more on logistic. Malaysian were not involved in the civil war among Egyption.
ReplyDeleteJasa DS Rosmah dlm hal ini mmg besar dan terima kasih diucapkan.
ReplyDeleteDS Rosmah menjadi mangsa serangan kerana pihak lawan lihat ini adalah kelemahan utama DS Najib berbanding PM sebelum ini kelemahan dari merata pelusuk.
Ambillah iktibar dari PM ke-5. Keluarga jadi isu utama
Ambillah iktibar dari tulisan AKJ
Sekurang-kurangnya ambil 1 untuk diperhalusi.
Ambillah iktibar dari PRU 12&PRU 13
MAkmal yg tumbuh mcm cendawan hanya banyak membuang wang dan maklumat penting.
DS Najib mampu mengubahnya
I think DAKJ's comment was less about Kak Ros, and was merely intended, rather, as an understated rebuke to the Cabinet ministers who haven't exactly been performing.
ReplyDelete(Which of them have, exactly?)
As such, it was a fair comment.
Kalau dah tak suka tu, apa-apa je yang dibuat semua nampak buruk. Semua nampak tak kena. Toleh ke kiri pun salah, toleh ke kanan pun salah. Kalau tak toleh pun orang akan mengata juga.
ReplyDeleteOrang dah tak suka, nak buat macam mana?
In true pro umno blogger style, you muddy the waters with this post to deflect criticism of your boss's wife.
ReplyDeleteKadir has another boss who would have been very pleased with his post....he he he
the matter is the PM can do it himself if his cabinet minister failed to do so.
ReplyDeleteStill Anifah stand out among the best FM Malaysia ever has.
regards
drmuzi
Esa Adam, so it's not a situation until a Malaysian dies due to the unrest in Egypt, be it accident or active participation? Malaysians are not the ONLY ones stuck in Egypt, we should be thankful that somebody tried.
ReplyDeleteI think if one thing is for sure, Malaysians need to learn to recognise that Rosmah did something, be it for whatever reasons, for an ultimately greater good. I don't see how that is a bad thing, and I absolutely agree with Datuk Anifah's comments.
In fact, I believe Datuk Anifah's comments should also be a message to ALL leaders in Malaysia - there are some government servants who cannot even recognise that they have done NOTHING for this country, yet they still talk, maybe even here on this message board or even worse, I remember there was some government servant who couldn't actually perform his duty for this nation, yet he still take home his pay and kept his position whilst snoozing in parliament.
Datuk Anifah however should not play down his role in government, he is an outstanding foreign minister, and in comparison to his peers, (literally) a prince amongst thieves. I still remember when he was the only minister that physically and directly approach his critiques, a move that no minister in this country would have the balls to do (One even had his bodyguards pull a gun on his fans), or when the first protest outbreak in Egypt, Datuk AA was overseeing the safe return of our students then. It's a thankless job, and the man shows great humility in responding the way he did.
I could honestly care less about the politics and mud slinging about this situation, but for once I know that something good came out of this, that the concerned families thousands of kilometres away have their loved ones back.
The article doesn't go into details about the nature of Rosmah's connections or exactly what she did to help students evacuate, but it is standard operating procedure for countries to help evacuate their citizens in times of instability. Jasin's statements are just hyperbole.
ReplyDeleteWho is Kadir Jasin to comment. Just a busy body old man who has been totally ignored by PM and his administration.Kadir Jasin you may go to hell. You have nothing special in you.please shut up and dont make more people hate you.
ReplyDeleteI think we know who Kadir Jasin is echoing in his thoughts....
ReplyDeleteAll the previous PM's wives have never called themselves 'First Lady' and have never taken such a prominent role nor have they 'showed off' as much as this one.
All of them have done 'good deeds' without having to shout out about it.
Siti Hasmah is the epimtome of class. Never did she go taking the government jet for her own use or been seen with Birkin bags.
I'm afraid the current one is proving to be an embarrasment...
Kadir Jasin is Madhater's supporter. Najib had a fallout with Madhater. So go figure la. This is getting fun! Where is that fucking cibai warrior 231? Having his good time
ReplyDeleteForeign Minister Anifah Aman told me over telephone yesterday that it was true that he had asked Rosmah to help via her links to Susan Mubarak, the wife of the now deposed President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak to secure the release of a Malaysian student who was detained for alleged spying. He added that he tried various other channels for the same purpose.
ReplyDeleteI was not convinced by Anifah’s assurance since I was told that the Malaysian student was released well before Rosmah could call Susan. Now I read the following report (below) from The Ant Daily. It would appear that Rosmah’s role in this episode has been grossly exaggerated at the UMNO General Assembly to deflect public criticism over her use of the Government’s executive jet for her trip to Qatar and Dubai.–Din Merican
Go To Din Merican's Site and you will see a totally different Version to what happened over the Stray Malaysian "rescued" by Rosmah.
ReplyDeleteHeran....Najib tak ada Value sedangkan Rosmah lebih di hargai olih ketua Negara. Kalau Macam Tu Ganti Saja Najib dengan Rosmah.
ReplyDeleteNajib Just Admitted Publicly he Not Worth Much and that Rosmah is more important than Him!
"Who is Kadir Jasin to comment. Just a busy body old man who has been totally ignored by PM and his administration."
ReplyDeleteHmmmmm, so it's only those who have been "paid attention to" who have a right to comment?
I doubt DAKJ really cares whether he's been ignored or not.
Suharto ada ibu tien dan tommy, mahathir ada mirzan sekarang najib ada rosmah pula...inilah antarnya ingredient 3K-kroni, kolusi, korapsi -- kata orang indonesia
ReplyDelete