YOURSAY 'What an arrogant woman... Her condescending tones smack of ‘let them eat cake' when the rakyat cannot afford bread.'

Rafizi, like other young folk, 'being ungrateful'

Absalom: What utter rubbish! Just because PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli was a Petronas scholar, he should be grateful to government leaders forever, even to the extent of ignoring or covering up their atrocities.

It appears this is the principle by which Umno and BN leaders seem to live and expect so casually that everybody else should follow. It is in keeping with the 'you help me, I help you' teachings of PM Najib Razak himself or, in this case, ‘we have helped you, now you close an eye on our blatant abuses'.

It shows that BN people, having ruled unchallenged, have lost the plot altogether and they seem to think they are the owners of this country and all the resources therein for them to do as they please.

Hats off to Rafizi and young people like him who are brave enough to stand up for what is right.

Odin: First, Rafizi was, and not is, a Petronas scholar. Do mind your English, you former magistrate. Second, Rafizi's publicising of the Cowgate fiasco can hardly be described as biting the hand that once fed him.

The money that was used to pay for his tertiary education came not from the personal accounts of Umno leaders but basically from petroleum, which was and still is rightly owned by the peoples of the states where it exists offshore.

Very many of these people have been struggling even to eat one decent meal a day, while the thieves in Umno have been pigging out on gourmet dishes and enriching themselves beyond even the wildest dreams of the poverty-stricken folks.

In fact, Rafizi has done these people, as well as the other honest ordinary Malaysians elsewhere, a service so great that one can hardly think of any suitable reward for him.

Mahadevil: In the eyes of the rakyat, Rafizi will always be the hero for exposing the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) scandal.

To us, the word 'ungrateful' only applies to your family, Shahrizat Abdul Jalil. Your husband was given a soft loan of RM250 million for raising cows to serve the needs of the nation. He failed miserably to achieve the target and instead diverted millions to invest in properties.

In the meantime, your children hold the top posts in NFC enjoying hefty salaries, paid from the soft loans. You can be grateful to Umno for feeding your family with that project, but to us, we call it 'betrayal' of trust.

Anonymous_5fb: Umno politicians like Shahrizat always argue the rakyat should be grateful to Umno for what rakyat are but never at any time feel Umno should be grateful to rakyat for their support for 50 over years since Merdeka.

They instead become arrogant and take rakyat's support for granted, abuse the power mandated to them and become corrupted to the core. Umno never think of all these and will never repent for their wrongdoings.

It's time we take back power and give a fresh mandate to Pakatan Rakyat, which has proven to us that it can administer the states under its rule well.

Mano: I would say Rafizi is so grateful for the scholarship that he follows the moral law to expose the wrongdoing in this country so that 2,500 more children could get scholarships from this ill-spent RM250 million loan to Shahrizat's husband.

Indeed, I truly believe he really loves the country that educated him and he wants to do much more to help those really deserving students with all the money channelled by illicit ways to Umnoputras and BNputras.

Babylon: If the corrupted person is even my own father, I will not have any respect for him. My father died with not much material wealth, but as far as his honour and credibility are concerned, he was extremely rich.

That is how to teach your children, Shahrizat. Not hide behind religious facades and blame the rest of the world for your greed and getting caught. No one believes a word that comes from your mouth.

2LAN: Thanks for your remark that Rafizi is ungrateful, I am going straight to the bank and donate RM100 for Rafizi whistleblower fund to defend more "ungrateful" sons of Malaysia. This woman knows no shame.

Onyourtoes: See how the nincompoop makcik thinks of herself: if young Malay men and women have benefitted from government's assistance and scholarships, they must be eternally grateful, not even to disclose or expose the misdeeds, abuse of power and corruption in the government.

Obviously this makcik can't differentiate between government money and her own money; obviously she can't see that if corruption and abuse of power are not dealt with, fewer Malays will be able to get the benefits in the future.

Blind Freddo: Truly generous scholarship donors would most likely be proud to have sponsored a rebel. Because only through rebellion does civilisation progress.

But not in Malaysia, where apparently awarding a scholarship is seen as buying a person... for life.

Not Confused: What an arrogant woman - it is confirmed by every utterance that comes from her lips. Her condescending tones smack of "let them eat cake" when the rakyat cannot afford bread.

BN is still under the delusion that because it spoon-feeds the rakyat with goodies and money at election time, the rakyat should be unswervingly loyal and subservient to BN.

I'm sorry, but this is not how democracy works. Loyalty and gratitude are earned, not demanded or even expected. The poor woman is so deluded that she is beyond redemption.

Inspektor Klueso: A comical, nonsensical and imbecilic statement. Typical of a privileged Umno goon.

The reality is that education equips our young ones with the ability to think for themselves. With the dissemination of "real" news on the Internet these days, such silly comments uttered by dinosauric leaders are in all likelihood received with scorn and contempt by the steadily better-informed masses, Malays et al.

Kee Thuan Chye: Why should Rafizi or any young person be grateful? If they got scholarships, whom should they be grateful to?

Shahrizat is obviously suggesting they should be grateful to the government. That's what she means by "the hand that feeds them". In that, she is wrong.

The hand that feeds those who got scholarships is the hand of the rakyat. The rakyat who toil and pay taxes to fund the scholarships. The rakyat that comprises all races. Isn't that so?

Even if she acknowledges that the money is from the rakyat, I would still say there is no need to be grateful. If we pay taxes that go into giving the young scholarships, we accept it because it is our responsibility to see they get education. It is money correctly spent.

As citizens, they are entitled to such help - provided they deserve it. If they deserve it, they do not need to be grateful. For being the brilliant man he is, Rafizi truly deserved his scholarship. As a taxpayer, I would have been happy paying taxes to fund his education.

Tholu: Remember Shahzirat, there is no such thing as government money. The government only holds the monies of the rakyat in trust and manages and spends them as per their wishes and requirements.

Scholarship money is one such fund. It is given to eligible students. When they graduate, their loyalty should be to the rakyat and that is exactly what Rafizi is doing - showing his loyalty to the rakyat by exposing the evils done to them by the government.

It is people like you who collude with the corrupt government for monetary gain and cover up the evil doings of those who are betrayers of the trust placed on you by your parents and the rakyat. It is you who are the 'si Tanggang'.

Rakyat Malaysia: If Shahrizat had not created any "shit", nobody would throw it back at her.

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