YOURSAY 'In Japan, the Wagyu cattle are apparently fed with beer and are housed in air-conditioned pens with piped-in music.'

'National Feedlot Corp loan used to buy condo unit'

your say Anonymous: The plot is getting more intrigue. First, the draw down of RM250 million soft loan which even the minister was not aware of. Then it was then preferentially loans to NFC's subsidiaries. Now, the subsidiary use RM9.8 million to buy a luxurious condominium in Bangsar.

Of course, to top all these up is that the beef produced by NFC (National Feedlot Corporation) cost as much if not more than Wagyu beef.

What else will come next? What is the PM going to do about all these allegations or would he like to enlighten the people on how our contributions to the government's coffers has been put to good use on this project.

SusahKes: All together now (follow Charlie's Angels intro) - "Once upon a time, there was a woman who went to work in the Umno academy. And she was assigned a very boring duty - to be in charge of the Welfare Ministry.

"But she decided she should have more fun, and now she works for me. My name is ‘I help you, you help me'. And so she got RM250 million loan of easy money, which she then used to ‘tolong' (help) her family and buy property."

Docs: I'm sure Women, Family and Community Development Minister Sharizat Abdul Jalil and her hardworking family also deserve this RM9.8 million condominium in addition to RM800,000 vacation and the RM160 million NFC project.

After all, she and her family are the only hardworking Malaysians. The rest of us are lazy bums.

Pemerhati: It is very obvious by now that Shahrizat is not as smart as the other constitutional Malay with Indian ancestry, who was premier for 22 years.

This master thief has stolen billions but no one has been able to find much incriminating evidence like cheques, properties, etc, to nail him. Only after he retired was it revealed that one of his sons had become a billionaire and had made a huge investment in a brewery in the Philippines.

Shahrizat by comparison has been caught stealing peanuts while still in service. Perhaps she should now go to the master thief and get some tuition on how to steal without getting caught.

While she is at it she could also find out how her Wanita Umno predecessor, Rafidah Aziz, escaped prosecution for theft, with the help of the same thief.

Lim Chong Leong: So money lent to sister companies are okay since they are in the related business? But how is a condominium related to the cattle business?

Is it like they say, you can fool around outside but don't bring the cow home? Is that what the condo is for? These people think they can do whatever they want with our money.

Confused: RM9.8 million has too many zeros for MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) to investigate. They can only handle cases like a few thousand ringgit. So don't bother, MACC will never look into this case.

Cascara: This is nothing unusual. Isn't that how everyone in Umno operates? Get a project, a government loan, spend, spend, spend and forget about the project and conveniently forget about paying back the loan. Umno operates on the 'your money is my money' principle.

Josephine: I am speechless. Before joining politics, Shahrizat was a successful professional. It is safe to assume that she has accumulated sufficient wealth and has a comfortable life.

Yet, the allure of easy money and greed has reduced her to this if these alleged excesses are true.

Wfworker: Hasn't anyone heard of Kobe beef? This will be the Malaysian version of ‘Condo beef' to challenge the Japanese beef.

Hateyou: In Japan, the Wagyu cattle are apparently fed with beer and are housed in air-conditioned pens with piped-in music, so the ‘lembus' (cows) here must be given the same treatment, if not better.

Multi Racial: BN mentality is disgusting. If the government has done something wrong, just admit it. Punish those responsible and reward those who have discovered them. And then move on.

If you cover it up, it means the top are also a party to it. If that was the case, our greatest fear will become reality. Malaysia is doomed if Malaysians do not do something about it in the coming general election.

Changeagent: In Kobe, cows get daily massages and drink sake. In Malaysia, cows go on government-funded holidays and live in luxury condominiums in Bangsar.

Anomnim: People from other countries resign even if they claimed something they shouldn't. Here in Malaysia, they shamelessly hang around like nothing's wrong and it is their birthright to plunder the people's money.

Enough is enough. If the government can't do the job, we should find someone who can. To hell with incompetence.

Gerard Samuel Vijayan: Perhaps Shahrizat's ‘homeless' family needed this new home. This is typical Umno cronyism - make money out of everything while the rakyat must suffer. If it was any other country the people would have just taken to the streets to say enough is enough.

Even a thousand and one pilgrimages to Mecca is not going to save any Umno leader from the wrath of Allah SWT. Their arrogance and greed make them think that even Allah SWT can be bribed by their false piety.

Fair Play: The rope is tightening on the minister. It would be interesting to see if she is going to wriggle out of this one.

'Gemas Gold' as expensive as Wagyu beef

Tailek: Gemas Gold my foot. That's the trouble when you expect gentlemen farmers to farm cattle.

They only know how to spend vast sums of loot on study trips (read: holiday) ostensibly to study cattle farming projects and techniques overseas, and the further and more exotic the locale the better.

The government would have fared much better giving the grants and soft loans to a consortium of Indian cattle herders.

BN is guilty of the many failed projects awarded to its cronies year after year. And ultimately, it's always the poor taxpayers who suffer. What a load of bull.

Onyourtoes: I am passionate about all government-sponsored projects for a wrong reason. We must trace the origin of why most government-sponsored projects are doomed to failure.

Inevitably most would attribute the failure to inefficiency, corruption, abuse and mismanagement. But if we borrow the concept from the banking industry, it is more of a moral hazard issue which Malaysians should have learnt to deal with a long time ago.

A moral hazard is a situation when "an individual or institution does not take the full consequences and responsibilities of its actions, and therefore has a tendency to act less carefully than it otherwise would, leaving another party to hold some responsibility for the consequences of those actions".

Put in simply, moral hazard is a situation when a person or company does business without having to bear the risk.

What more if the capital is also provided as in the case of NFC. So if the project makes money, they will get the profit and credit, but if the project fails, the government will bear the loss (but those operating the project could still make lots of money).

How then can you expect any project of this nature to succeed? It is not possible, at least that is what the economic theory of moral hazard said so. Worldwide there are enough examples to demonstrate this. So please don't come back to tell us that Malaysia is an exception.

Now, do you think the Treasury does not know about moral hazard? It is hard to tell, given the many nincompoops now filling up the top echelon of the Treasury. But I have an inkling that this is a money-siphoning project for Wanita Umno perhaps.

Gordon Gecko: In US, there's a catchphrase: "Where's the beef? So Shahrizat and family, after pocketing RM250 million in taxpayers' money, I too would like to ask, "Where's the beef?"

 


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