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| Najib Razak at the new TUDM base in Sendayan last month |
I am not privy to whatever might have happened between Rafidah Aziz and Najib Razak but something bad or even ugly must have happened for Rafidah to be stabbing the Prime Minister again and again and with increased regularity. In her latest attack [Rafidah ups the ante, goes after Najib on military land] she meant to gut him like a fish. She obviously waited for Najib to call for the general election before taking the knives out.
But why she waited more than 10 years to tell us this particular tale takes away a lot from that tale itself and makes the intent fishy, if you know what I mean. You have to ask, why now and not a year ago or when it allegedly took place? Is she really demanding accountability on Najib's part or is she being a politician and doing this for her politics and the general election? Or for the simple pleasure of getting back at the PM?
If, indeed, Rafidah had felt wrong about Najib's proposal to the Cabinet back then, she sure didn't do much except from asking a couple of questions. Her own narrative:
"I WAS uneasy and questioned you in CABINET:--a) HOW was this unknown company selected?b) I also asked why LEMBAGA TABUNG ANGKATAN TENTERA (LTAT) was not chosen instead , for this privatisation? LTAT can then form Consortiums, with Commercial Development Companies ,with excellent track records.Your response to me , and echoed by the PM then, was…‘We will bring in LTAT later…’No one else asked any question. The Paper was approved."
The paper was approved.
By the Cabinet chaired by Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the PM then, in the usual spirit of collective responsibility.
Rafidah was a senior member of that Cabinet.
So, with all due respect, why regale us with this tale now?
Tales about Cabinet and Cabinet ministers are a dime and a dozen. I recall one of the closed-door meetings a group of us mainstream media editors had with Dr Mahathir Mohamad when he was PM. He was lamenting on corruption in general and his Cabinet Ministers. Can't remember who asked him then but Mahathir was asked: What's stopping him from taking action against these Ministers who were allegedly, apparently or obviously corrupt?
Mahathir said if he were to take action against his ministers for corruption, "there won't be any Cabinet left".
Rafidah was part of Mahathir's Cabinet at the time.
But, of course, the Old Man was only joking ...
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| Rafidah went after Mahathir, too ... then they kissed and made up. She cried, he said he didn't |
Read :
Rafidah: Mahathir was mistaken (The Sun, July 2005)
Rafidah: Dr Mahatir is disloyal (The Star, May 2008)