Why not remove ministers and replace with Rosmah, says former NST chief editor

BY LEE SHI-IAN

DECEMBER 08, 2013

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak should consider appointing his wife as Minister of Special Affairs as she seems to be adept at carrying out the duties of several ministers, said former New Straits Times group editor-in-chief Datuk A. Kadir Jasin (pic).

Kadir, in commenting on the recent Umno general assembly, said from the various reports on the event, the most popular topic was Najib's public praise of his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, for her "good deeds" to the country.

In his winding up speech yesterday, Najib highlighted two instances when Rosmah had helped Malaysia. One was when she contacted the Egyptian president's wife in securing the release of a Malaysian student who was arrested on suspicion of being a spy.

The second incident was when Malaysian students were stranded in Egypt during the Arab uprising. Najib said Rosmah had used her good relations with the Saudi Arabian royal family to allow the students to enter the country from Egypt although they did not have visas.

Kadir said based on the revelations by Najib, Putrajaya should re-evaluate the positions of several Cabinet ministers including Datuk Seri Anifah Aman (Foreign Affairs), Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed (International Trade and Industry), Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (Education) and Datuk Rohani Abdul Karim (Women, Family and Community Development).

"It is very apparent that none of these ministers are as effective as Rosmah in handling international crisis," Kadir said in his blog posting today.

He suggested that these "non-performing" ministers be dropped, which would also see a reduction in the number of ministeries. This, he said, would also save Putrajaya a lot of money.

Although the 13th general election was over, Kadir said that Najib and Rosmah's supporters could push for her to be appointed as a Senator before she is made a minister.

"Even the prime minister's position might not be beyond Rosmah's reach if she can win the trust and support of the public," Kadir noted.

"Once she has been made a minister, then nobody can accuse Najib and the Cabinet of abuse of power for allowing Rosmah to use government facilities. The perfect Cabinet portfolio for Rosmah would be Minister of Special Affairs," Kadir dryly remarked.

Kadir then expressed his disappointment at Federal Territories Umno delegate Affandi Zahari for accusing all men, except Najib, of not loving their wives. Kadir said he was completely against the statement made by Affandi.

In a debate at the general assembly, Affandi had defended Rosmah's use of a government jet when she attended a business forum in Doha, Qatar last month.

Affandi said it was better for Rosmah to use the government jet in order to give Najib peace of mind. He raised the prospect of the emotional stress Najib would have to endure if something untoward happened to Rosmah while on a commercial flight.

Acknowledging it was more expensive to fly with an executive jet, Affandi still insisted that critics should look at the issue from a safety standpoint.

"We must look at the issue of Rosmah flying on the government jet from a safety point of view. Can you imagine the emotional stress Najib would suffer if anything happened to Rosmah? He loves his wife, not like other men," Affandi had reportedly.

Kadir pointed out that it was fine if Affandi wanted to defend Najib and Rosmah as that was the duty of a delegate during the Umno general assembly.

"But if he did say that other men did not love their wives, then that is a terrible insult," he added.