Shahrizat to challenge Rafidah for Wanita UMNO leadership - Malaysiakini

PETALING JAYA: Barely a day after Wanita Umno chief Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz announced that the wing’s power transition plan would remain as planned in June, her deputy Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil has sprung a surprise.

She has decided to challenge Rafidah for the Wanita Umno leadership. Highly-placed sources said that Shahrizat had made up her mind to go for the wing’s top post which Rafidah has held for more than 20 years.

Shahrizat is expected to take Kuala Kangsar Wanita division chief and lawyer Datuk Kamiliah Ibrahim as her running mate.

Sources said Shahrizat wanted to exhaust all avenues before deciding on a challenge. But the straw that broke the camel’s back was the marathon Wanita exco meeting on Monday that saw Rafidah loyalists bringing out the knives.

Rafidah’s loyalists insisted that the transition plan go ahead at the five-and-a-half-hour meeting.

Shahrizat was chastised for issuing a press statement — a day before the exco meeting — in which she asked Rafidah to consider going in March instead of June.

One exco member said she was taken aback by the language that several of the critics used.

“They ran her down, insulted her and bullied her into agreeing,” said the exco member.

Her critics were also upset about the nominations she got and impli-ed she had conspired with Kamilia to get the endorsement.

She was even criticised for not inviting Rafidah to her Hari Raya open house. It is understood she received scores of SMSes after news broke out of the Wanita exco proceedings and it pushed her towards her decision.

Some scolded her for caving in to Rafidah, others expressed disappointment and said they felt betrayed, while others urged her to change her mind.

An aide said she spent half the night reading the SMSes, some of which were “hate mail” because some of the women were angry she had not resisted the transition plan.

Moreover, she has won 72 nominations against the 118 secured by Rafidah for the Wanita leadership.

Segambut Wanita chief and film producer Ruhani Abdul Rahman sa-id Shahrizat should go for it because “we are ready for a change.”

“A June transition would make Shahrizat an acting Wanita leader without a deputy for the next three years. What is the point of that?” said Ruhani.(TheStar)