What power does Shahrizat have on Najib that he dares not sack her?

One has to wonder to what degree of influence does Women's minister Sharizat Jalil have over Prime Minister Najib Razak. Indeed, despite the mountain of demands to have her either removed forcibly or to resign voluntarily, she remains a fixture in the both in the Malaysian Cabinet and the jolly pirate ship that is Umno - a corruption-riddled party that has ruled Malaysia since 1957.

Back to work after a three-week leave and being questioned by the MACC, Shahrizat goes about her business much the same as usual. No doubt, the smile is a bit plastered on and the worry and stress lines have left ravaging marks on her face. But what stick does Shahrizat have that when she waves it, Najib would cower in fright? Or so it may seem on the surface because the NFC is actually much more than meets the eye. It is actually a classic reflection of how dirty politics is within Umno itself and how desperate the infighting has become.

Scripted drama

At a midweek meeting of the BNl coalition, Najib sought to give the impression that the NFC scandal and Shahrizat's future were of so little importance that the BN did not even discuss it. “No, no, not discussed here. And it is the prerogative of the prime minister,” he told a press conference.

Since it is the prerogative of the prime minister to fire a cabinet member, the opposite is true too. Er... not the Cabinet minister firing the prime minister, but it is also the prerogative of the PM to keep any minister he likes in office. As such, given that Shahrizat's BN colleagues from Gerakan, MCA and even Umno itself have expressed their wish for her to step down, the only reason for her remaining has to be Najib.

Najib’s insistence on keeping Shahrizat seems to be at odds with many of the influential within his own Umno party, including ex premier Mahathir Mohamad and ex-Trade minister Rafidah Aziz. Although, Najib has been suspected of asking Nazri Aziz, the minister in the PM's office who is widely regarded as his spokesman, to publicly point out that there was breach of trust in a government loan extended to the NFC cattle project, no action has been taken against Shahrizat's family.

Nazri also floated the shockingly amoral idea that if the Shahrizats repaid the RM250 million loan, she could remain in office. Was he trying to knock together an escape route for her? There is talk in Umno that Najib has given her until the end of the month to voluntarily quit, while several Wanita Umno figures are preparing to hold an EGM to oust her as the Wanita chief if she doesn't step down on her own. Again, all talk and no action.

Is Najib trying to give the impression that he is a good guy and an anti-graft buster but has to tread carefully because of 'internal undercurrents'? Hog or is it cow wash, his critics would surely say! Umno time is bendable and promises made are expected to be forgotten. A good example is Nazri himself, who was tasked to look into allegations that the Attorney-General’s Chambers had dropped a RM40 million corruption case against former Malacca Chief Minister Rahim Thamby Chik in exchange for Rahim stepping down from all government and party positions. Years have passed but no action has ever been taken.

Najib himself is the one holding back on taking action

So what then is holding Najib back? There are many in Umno who point out that the PM and his supporters are to blame for the Shahrizat fiasco. In their bid to dump her and install their man Raja Nong Chik as the candidate in Shahrizat's long-held former parliamentary seat, Lembah Pantai, the entire Umno apparatus and leadership has been hit by huge negative news.

Just last night, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, regarded as a potential competitor for Najib's presidency, tried to help Shahrizat, telling her there was no hurry; she could decide what to do after the police and MACC investigations were through. However, in Malaysian political time, this could range from months to years, as witness the Rahim case!

Obviously, by making such a statement, Muhyiddin is sticking his neck out. Many of his political rivals are already pointing out that he was the Agriculture minister in charge of granting Shahrizat's family the NFC cattle breeding project in 2006. So it makes sense that Muhyiddin would want to help Shahrizat cover up NFC. Again, this second twist actually benefits the Najib camp the most.

Then there is the Badawi-KJ group to neutralize

Perhaps, this is why Najib is prolonging making the decision to ask Shahrizat to step down, when the facts are only all too clear she has to go. PKR leaders believe they were fed information from whistle-blowers they suspect were from Umno itself.

Certainly, the NFC scandal has been a boon for Najib, helping him to split his already embattled party further apart. A divided Umno will help Najib to maintain the upper hand when internal polls are held later this year, and retain the presidency.

With one stroke of the sword, so to speak, Najib gets to plant his man in Lembah Pantai, create suspicion and make life difficult for Muhyiddin, who has been struggling since offending Mahathir over a policy to use Malay language to teach Science and Mathematics.

Another group of rivals that Najib gets to neutralize with the NFC scandal is the faction controlled by his predecessor Abdullah Badawi and his son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin. From heated defense, it is telling that Khairy is now practically 'speechless' when it comes to Shahrizat. No doubt, the 30-something Oxford graduate realized at the last moment how close he had been lured to the brink by his enemies.

Badawi and Khairy were the ones who allegedly dredged up the project from among the many proposals sent in by foreign consultancies, and they had decided to give the NFC to Shahrizat partly to help her win Wanita chief's post in 2008. The NFC is a cattle breeding project aimed to ensure Malaysia could produce 40% of its beef consumption and keep prices low for the masses.

A study in decadence: This is how Umno works

At the core of it, the entire NFC scandal is a revelation of how Umno works. This is an amoral party. It cares not that its shenanigans and internal politicking are being watched by the public at large. It cares not that no one is deceived by Najib's clumsy maneuvers. No sirree, Umno members care not that it is their own party that is being stiffed, back stabbed and destroyed by its own president and his men.

Now, perhaps Malaysians can understand why current Agriculture minister Noh Omar, who could claim to have knowledge and evidence of sand theft by PKR leaders, could only go 'Uhhh, I don't know' when asked if there was any element of breach of trust in the way the Shahrizats had utilised the RM250million soft loan.

PKR leaders have splashed out in the media documentary evidence of how the Shahrizats spent huge chunks of the loan on luxury condos, car, credit card splurges, holidays and so on. The loan was granted by the Badawi government as funding to get the NFC project up and going.

Najib won't get rid of Shahrizat so soon

Perhaps, it is also clear now, why Shahrizat is so bold as to refuse to resign, even when told off in no uncertain terms by Umno stalwarts like Mahathir Mohamad and Rafidah Aziz.

Shahrizat probably knows Najib will not 'get rid' of her so soon. His bull-in-a-china-shop ways are not difficult to read, especially to his party mates who have known him through the decades.

He and his minions may now bark and make comments to show they are 'serious' about cleaning up the NFC and that includes throwing Shahrizat out into the political wilderness. But until the scandal has been milked for every single drop of political advantage, and is no longer of any use to them, Shahrizat knows she can bide her time.

And by now, so does Muhyiddin. And the time frame he is asking for her is, until the investigations are over. Talk about waiting until the cows come home! But Shahrizat will surely bargain for the most favorable exit that she can. Even so, she knows that she must go eventually.

The biggest losers are of course the Malaysian public. Because when the Umno elite reshuffle the cards, guess what? Abracadabra, not a sen - or not that many anyway - will be found missing from the NFC after all. Everything has 'suddenly' been made good and no one needs to be punished.To even think of bringing the corrupt to book is ridiculous - it only shows how crude and bourgeois the opposition is. SEMUANYA OK!