YOURSAY 'Shahrizat and her family work hard for their condos, bungalow lots and Mercs. There is no reason for anybody to be jealous of that.'

PKR: Shahrizat's family owns RM10mil S'pore condo

Changeagent: This latest startling revelation highlights the loose financial controls and ineptness of the government body that approved, and subsequently disbursed, the RM250 million government loan.

It is clear that NFC (National Feedlot Corporation) did not need that amount to fund its core activities since a significant portion of the resources were purposefully misdirected towards non-core expenditures like holidays, prime residential land, car and multiple super-luxurious condominiums.

The question at hand is who in the government decided the value of the soft loan, or how was that figure ultimately derived?

Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil and her family alone cannot be the only culprits in this ugly fiasco.

Somebody else had to orchestrate and authorise the transfer of funds so that the Umno cronies can maintain their undeserved and repulsive lavish lifestyles, while the public continue to be cheated out of their own tax contributions that should otherwise have gone into public infrastructural spendings like schools, roads, transport or welfare.

Abasir: Should we discount the possibility that Shahrizat has some sort of hold over PM Najib Razak (a hold greater than his wife, Rosmah Mansor's)?

How else can we explain the prolonged eerie silence from the entire bunch - Najib and his circle of ‘yes men' plus EPU (Economic Planning Unit), Finance Ministry and the ICU (Implementation Coordination Unit)?

Are they afraid that if they go after Shahrizat and her husband, Mohamad Salleh Ismail, she may bring the rest of them down with her? Or is this a grand plot to finish her off politically by letting this drag on till nomination day?

Whatever the case may be, PKR's serialised revelations are very effective in keeping this RM250 million scam on the front burner, and remind all taxpaying Malaysians that we are living in 1Corrupt Malaysia.

Sadirah: So now the money trail leads to Singapore. This is nothing new for many Umno leaders. That is why they do not want to disclose their assets.

Remember the Umno MB of a neighbouring state who sent millions of ringgit through a money changer to UK? What has come of this case? No news means case closed.

Then we have the CM who carried a bag full of money to Australia and was freed because he could not understand English! And we have one who travelled to Disneylands in France and United States on state money along with an entourage.

If enough investigative work is done, there is dirt that will stick on all of them from Dr Mahathir Mohamad downwards.

It is this culture that they want to protect so that the elites can continue with their daylight robbery, and that is why they are afraid of losing Putrajaya.

Dhammika: An external audit must be done. Shahrizat should be suspended pending investigation. Najib has to make a statement.

She was ferocious when she rolled up her left hand sleeve to vent her anger over the NFC case at the recent Umno general assembly. Najib must be frightened of her.

Hang Babeuf: The Umno heavies and the NFC beneficiaries should ‘cower' in shame. The rakyat should not be ‘cowed' into silence on this matter. (That is both a political assertion and an English lesson.)

Truth Seeker: It looks like some people are keeping mum due to their poor eyesight (can't see), defective ears (can't hear) and an underdeveloped brain (can't think).

It's wise to adopt the dictum "See no evil, hear no evil and say no evil", less it can turn into "you disclose my wrongdoings, I reveal yours many times over."

Perhaps this good tactic should be incorporated into the Moral textbook for our schools, no?

Zz2XX: All this is not surprising at all. When you're an Umno member, you're above the law. You can do whatever you want. You can siphon money out of the country as you wish.

Umno runs MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission), the police and the courts, so its members are untouchables.

And what more when ‘Dear Successor' Muhyiddin Yassin gives Shahrizat his blessings. Even ‘Dear Leader' Najib can't do anything.

Solaris: Is MACC even awake yet?

Armageddon: What is happening here? Is MACC being stopped by someone from taking action? Or is MACC just couldn't be bothered? Or is this case too big for MACC to handle? Or is Shahrizat above the law?

Or is it possible, that there is no corruption element at all with regards to this NFC issue. What is it? We are extremely confused.

Anonymous_3e0b: It's year end now and I can guess many of the MACC staff are on leave after a very trying year. Does the postal system has a slow mail service which is best suited for sending a complaint of this nature?

Micheal: The BN government is actually encouraging corruption. They are worried about the repercussion among the rural Malay voters if one of their ministers and her family is charged with corruption.

That is the reason why they defended her at all cost. I think PKR should seriously think about starting a drive to urge the rakyat to stop paying taxes in view of continued misuse of public funds.

Show BN that we are really fed up with the rampant corruption. What is refusal to pay taxes compared with this 'daylight robbery'?

Anticommunalist: Now we know how RM1 trillion was illegally siphoned away from Malaysia the last decade or so.

Anonymous_4182: This is the result of 54 years in power. Umnoputras behave like they own the country with such arrogance that they are above accountability. A similar trait is found in Sarawak.

With this latest issue, I wonder if the Umnoputras herd will still try to stay together and deny any wrongdoing. We can only shake our head in disbelief.

Clearwater: This Cowgate show is more interesting than any TV soap opera. I will be looking forward to more sequels in the remaining weeks of 2011.

Cala: Given the fact Umno is hardly the political party that is known to apply disciplinary actions on its members involved in corrupt practices, I doubt very much any action will be taken against Shahrizat on the purchase of a condominium unit in Singapore.

The case in point is ex-Selangor MB Mohamad Khir Toyo. See how reluctant the party dragged him to court. What remains as true is that it will not hesitate to use legal coercion on any of its member who fails to toe the party line.

But the abuse of power while in office, involvement in corruption and rent-seeking are in Umno tradition, and not regarded as stepping outside the party line.

Bender: Let's realise something here. Other than us, a handful of Malaysiakini subscribers and perhaps another handful of Internet users who diligently scrounge for alternative news, who else would come to realise how big a problem this is?

It's obvious that people who depend on MSM (mainstream media) will not get this kind of information. Even if they do, the info would have been neutralised so as generate public opinion favourable (or at least impartial) to the parties involved in this daylight robbery.

I hate to be skeptical on this but I see another lost cause here.

We may expose corruption after corruption committed by the same people but without public opinion that matters - that is, from right thinking/well-informed public (and a majority at that) - then all these would just be a temporary feel-good factor for all who wish to see these crimes stop and the culprits punished.

The 10 million question is: after all these expose, then what?

Kee Thuan Chye: There is increasing pressure for Shahrizat to step down from all her positions, and for all we know, she might just do that to save Umno.

But if she does, it should not be enough. The money given to the NFC must be taken back. It is, after all, the rakyat's money. Why should we let her family members keep the money and enjoy the condos and the Mercedes they bought with it?

Let's pressure the government to get back the money. Our money. And use it for better things.

Swipenter: Shahrizat and her family work hard for their condos, bungalow lots and Mercs. There is no reason for anybody to be jealous of that.

Just work hard and you may get to accumulate such assets one fine day. Maybe not fast as them.

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now .