Friday, September 16, 2016

"Let them eat cakes !"

17 th. September 2016.

The great French Revolution was about to happen, and this was what the last French Queen was supposed to have said when told that the people had no bread to eat - "let them eat cakes!"

In spite of many researched  write-ups about the current state of the Malaysian economy, yesterday a supposed-PhD holder on the top echelon of UMNO said the economy to-day is better than during Mahathir's time ! I don't know what subject his PhD was, or if it's genuine at all, but obviously he's been reading the wrong report. The cleverness of this guy's comments of late is something to behold. He was also the one who said Dollah was "the best PM in Malaysia, ever". And UMNO sacked the  best PM 6 months into his second term!  

Getting back to what I want to say to-day, clearly the ruling UMNO Masterclass lives a far different lifestyle from the common people below. The people are complaining about the rising costs of even the most basic food items like vegetables and chicken. Some imported stuff like infant formula are so expensive that the shopkeepers put them under lock and key ! And yesterday I read a WSJ report on how, on her husband's salary as PM (she's unemployed and ostensibly has zero income) she had managed to rack up  USD 6 million in credit card charges in designer stores world wide! Wow, a real-life 6-million-dollar person ! (That's RM 24,863,700). The Malaysian government pays its PM less than most Executive Directors of the Malaysian companies on its stock exchange. In fact Singapore pays her ordinary Ministers more ! In short Najib is no Bill Gates.

The piece listed, with photograhs, several purchases she's supposed to have made, along with the incredible prices. I choose a few here, limiting myself to some handbags, watches and a bangle. 

WSJ  says she has at least 12 Hermes Birkin handbags. These cost between USD 12,000 and USD 223,000.

She wears several watches, as the photographs show. The Hublot Big Bang Black Magic watch is listed at RM 79,200. The Franck Muller Master Square Lady is listed slightly more at RM 153,500. The real "Bang" here is the Richard Mille Lady Diamond Cruncher watch carrying the price tag of RM 656,300!

The one bangle I pick from the report is the Jacob & Co Zebra Safari bangle costing a cool RM 1.65 million!

One adjective that comes to mind immediately is "obscene". But I think it does not even do justice here. I mean, even in these inflationary times, I can buy a bungalow with that bangle she's wearing on her plump wrist !

Where is reality, and where do you draw the line on fantasy ?

The proverbial "behind every man, is a woman" is truly being stretched here ! Whatever fate awaits the poor husband, this particular wife can take well-deserved pride in the role she has played in his larger-than-life public performance.

As an afterthought, I add here the sad passing of PAS strongman, Dr. Harun Din, day before yesterday, in California, from long-suffered heart problems. I'm being  mean here, but can't resist the spin. The family said that the late ulama' willed that he be interred in the US. In death he appears to have avoided the contamination by 1MDB money, in that Najib & co had made preparations to bring the body home.


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