Of the General and his Major

If I recall correctly, a few years ago, Najib had a lavish wedding reception for one of his children (whom he had from his first marriage). True to Rosmah’s reputation, she (and not the boy’s actual mother) was at the helm of the organising committee for the reception. Without doubt, Rosmah was quite a good organiser.

During the reception speech, Najib delivered quite an amusing anecdote about an army General and his Major. As the Defence Minister then, Najib liken himself as the General in his household. On the other hand, Rosmah is the Major. Of course, by seniority, General ranked much higher than the Major. Najib continued to say that as a General, he will make the general decisions, and likewise, Rosmah will be the one who make the major decisions. The crowd burst into spontaneous laughter upon hearing the joke.

The joke actually continued beyond the wedding reception. Rosmah was alleged to be the real “power” behind the Ministry of Defence. At one instance, she was alleged to have chaired a procurement meeting at the MOD, with Najib being in attendance! There are many other stories circulating regarding her lavish spending spree everytime she’s overseas together with Najib who’s on official trip.

With the recent swap in portfolio, Pak Lah is now the Minister of Defence. Rumour has it that the new General (Pak Lah) has quite a few people with the rank of Major in his “Kitchen Cabinet” (as opposed to the formal Malaysian Cabinet). And this rank and file has always existed since Pak Lah became the Prime Minister. So, as the story unfolds, Pak Lah will continue to make general decisions regarding the well being of us Malaysians, and his other household henchmen will be the ones who will continue to dictate the major decision making exercises.