NOV 9 — Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil described Opposition attacks against her over the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) as a political agenda to “destroy Wanita Umno.”
Really?
How is Wanita Umno linked to the project? Was it given to them?
Short answer? No. Her family runs it. The only common link between both is that Shahrizat is the Wanita Umno chief.
So why is she dragging Wanita Umno into this political quagmire? Why is Wanita Umno being used as an excuse?
The minister of women, family and community development also said that her family, who runs the national cattle-farming project, “don’t deserve the things said by the Opposition because they work very hard.”
Again, really? Is the Opposition the one that exposed the feedlot’s poor business practices?
Fact is, the Auditor-General’s 2011 Report is the one that revealed the situation, criticising the NFC and pointing out that it was now “in a mess”.
The report said production in 2010 was only 3,289 head of cattle or 41.1 per cent of the target set.
But Minister of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Datuk Seri Noh Omar said on October 31 that the project is a success and had met its targets “as the total number of cattle brought into the farm was 8,016 between 2008 and 2010.”
Shahrizat, who has kept mum until today, said, “This is a political agenda by the Opposition to weaken Wanita Umno. But we are not that easily destroyed.
“I am ashamed that there is a Malaysian woman like the Wanita PKR chief,” the senator said, referring to Ampang MP Zuraida Kamaruddin who had claimed that the NFC had failed despite being given a soft loan of RM250 million and a 5,000-acre plot of land.
Instead of blaming others, Shahrizat or her family should explain why the Auditor-General gave a scathing report.
She should also address PKR’s claims that over RM84 million was siphoned off from NFC to companies controlled by Shahrizat’s husband, Datuk Dr Mohamad Salleh Ismail, and her children, Izran Mohamad Salleh and Izmir Mohamad Salleh.
Where’s the beef, Shahrizat? That’s what Malaysians want to know about the ambitious project.
Not the bovine excrement that has been fed to all over the past few days.
