Twin Peak First Ladies Despised By their own Family and their People

Tunisians couldn't stand her even more than they couldn't stand him.

The end of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's iron-fisted, 23-year rule brought joy to many ordinary people in this North African nation – and they were especially elated at the prospect of life without his wife and her rapacious family. The clan of former first lady Leila Trabelsi, a one-time hairdresser who rose to become Tunisia's most influential woman, was widely despised as the ultimate symbol of corruption and excess. Leila and her 10 siblings are said to have operated like a mafia, extorting money from shop owners, demanding a stake in businesses large and small, and divvying up plum concessions among themselves.

Their control over the North African country's economy was vast. The Trabelsi and Ben Ali's own families were said to have a stake in Tunisian banks and airlines, car dealerships, Internet providers, radio and television stations, industry and big retailers.

No one is in a better position to check up on one’s subordinates than one’s wife. In this case, Prime minister Najib Abdul Razak has detailed his wife to go to three countries for visits to promote Malaysia and do some official work.

The First Lady may not be a politician or an elected representative of Malaysia but only a woman of her calibre has the ear of the PM and his sentiments too.

Rosmah need not be on the official government payroll because her husband can easily command that she be paid the necessary expenses as she is promoting Malaysia, on his behalf.

In fact, what the PM has done is superb. More heads of states and industrialists, or multi-tasking managers, should adopt Najib’s idea.

CEOs when pressed for time in between their rounds of golf, power lunches and meetings, need only send their wives to some of the official events, to represent them. Wives normally have an intimate knowledge of what’s happening in the office.

As this is the age of equality, the female ministers in Najib’s cabinet, Shahrizat or Yen-Yen, should get their husbands to stand in for some of their work.

In the case of Yen-Yen, it will help justify his use of the government travel allowance (reportedly first class travel) as he is made to do some work on behalf of the government. There have been complaints that Yen-Yen chalked up RM5 million worth of travel in just a few months.

Perhaps Najib should take a leaf out of Taib’s book and delegate his duties to sisters, nephews, sons, daughters, uncles, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law and sundry other relatives.

But Najib is conscientious and saving our Malaysian taxpayer’s money by only delegating to his wife.

Rosmah, of course, is perfect for the job of foreign emissary and Anifah Aman, Malaysia’s foreign minister should wise-up to improve his performance before he is out of a job.

The First Lady has been known to speak impeccable English, she dresses well, is distinguished enough to meet heads of state on her own and puts her hosts and guests at ease with her love for a sing-song. To cap the evening’s entertainment, she likes to enthrall everyone with a fireworks display.

Can Anifah do all that and more?

Obviously, someone has complained that Anifah’s work is ineffective. Otherwise, why on earth would Najib send Rosmah to Saudi Arabia from 8 January for three days, then to Oman for four days from 16 January and then to Bangladesh for three days, from 19 January?

Anifah has clearly disturbed Rosmah’s busy schedule as she has had to return to Malaysia, to attend the glittering wedding reception of Sarawak Chief Minister, Taib Mahmud on 15 January.

This meant that she had to break up her middle-east tour by flying back to Malaysia for this event, and then return to the Arabian peninsula the following day, 16 January, as she will be in Oman for a four day official visit.

Rosmah is clearly a busy lady with a hectic schedule. It is fortunate that her husband is the Prime minister.

No one can justify spending that amount of money flying back and forth from the middle-east to Malaysia, with her entourage which consists of members of the Welfare Association of Wives of Ministers and Deputy Ministers (Bakti) as well as senior officials from the Prime Minister's Department.

We are indeed blessed to have someone who will tirelessly work on behalf of Malaysia, even if it cuts into her busy life. Most of us only take the bus or taxi with such regularity, but our First Lady does her travel in style.

It should be good for the Malaysian economy to see her fly the Malaysian colours. Foreign minister Anifah Aman had better-buck up or else he may end up a casualty of Rosmah’s efficiency cuts.

And when mass protests forced Ben Ali to flee Friday to Saudi Arabia, his peoples' pent-up rage was directed more at Leila's side of the family than at her husband and his authoritarian regime.

Retribution was swift. Within a day of Ben Ali's departure, many of the sumptuous villas and businesses belonging to the Trabelsis were pillaged and burned, and some reports said one prominent family member was killed by an angry mob. A Tunis Air pilot who refused to take off with five fleeing family members on board has become a national hero.

A branch of the Zeitouna bank in Tunis founded by Ben Ali's son-in-law was torched, as were vehicles made by the car brands he distributed, including Kia, Fiat and Porsche.

"They (the Trabelsis) are thieves, tricksters and even killers," raged Tunis resident Mantasser Ben Mabrouk. "Their only goal was to make money in whatever way they could."

His friend Mohamed Gaddahi agreed, laying – as many here do – much of the blame for the regime's abuses squarely on the Trabelsis.

"The president did lots of good, but the family did lots of harm to Tunisia," Gaddahi said.

U.S. diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks appear to shore up that conclusion. A June 2008 cable from the U.S. Embassy in Tunis describes a report by anti-corruption group Transparency International saying: "Whether it's cash, services, land, property ... President Ben Ali's family is rumored to covet it and reportedly gets what it wants."

The economic fallout of the Trabelsis' web of corruption and influence-mongering was palpable, the cable said, with "Tunisian investors – fearing the long-arm of 'the Family' – forgoing new investments, keeping domestic investment rates low and unemployment high."

A lack of jobs in this highly educated nation fueled the month of popular protests that toppled Ben Ali. The uprising began in December after a despairing university graduate who sold fruits and vegetables without a permit set himself on fire and died because police confiscated his goods.

The co-author of a book on Leila Trabelsi, "La Regente de Carthage," says the Trabelsis played an "absolutely capital" role in the fall of the regime.

"Tunisians were absolutely aware of what they were up to and they got to a point where they were sick and tired of their behavior," said author Catherine Graciet. Still, she noted that "we can't put all the blame on the Trabelsis, because it was Ben Ali himself who allowed them to act that way."

Leila Trabelsi was born in 1957 – the fifth of 11 children of a dried fruits vendor and a housewife, according to Graciet's book.

After working as a hairdresser and having a short-lived first marriage, Trabelsi married Ben Ali in 1992, five years after the bloodless palace coup in which he replaced aging independence hero Habib Bourguiba as president.

The marriage – which was also Ben Ali's second – catapulted the once-modest Trabelsi clan to national prominence.

Her oldest brother, Belhassen, known as the clan chieftain, is said to have ruled over the family's many mafia-style rackets.

Her nephew, Imed Trabelsi, was reputed to be the spoiled brat of the family and the former first lady's favorite, according to the book. Known as a playboy, he enjoyed a jet-set lifestyle, complete with a garage full of sports cars and yachts.

French prosecutors suspected him and another of Leila Trabelsi's nephews of having ordered the 2006 theft of a yacht belonging to a French investment banker that turned up in the Tunisian port of Sidi Bou Said. Still, a French judge ruled that the two Trabelsis could be tried at home, despite the fact that Tunisia was ruled by their uncle. It was not clear if any trial was ever held in Tunisia.

Some Tunisian media reports said Imed Trabelsi was recognized at the Tunis airport as he attempted to flee the country hours after the regime crumbled – and was attacked by an angry mob. Conflicting reports said he was stabbed by a fisherman in the town where he was mayor, an upscale coastal town near the capital. He reportedly died from his wounds at a Tunis military hospital over the weekend.

It was not immediately possible to verify those reports.

Graciet said the ex-first lady tried to block the book's release on the ground that it painted an unflattering portrait of her, but a French judge rejected Trabelsi's legal motion.

Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia, and Tunisian media reported he was joined by his wife and a few other relatives. The couple has two girls and one boy.

The whereabouts of all family members was unclear. France, which ruled Tunisia as a protectorate until it won independence in 1956, said some Ben Ali relatives were in France but they were "not welcome" to stay. Media reports had them at a hotel near the Disneyland Paris resort.

French government spokesman Francois Baroin also said France had taken "the necessary steps" to block any suspicious movement of Tunisian assets linked to Ben Ali and his entourage that might be squirreled away in France.

Mohamed Ben Kilani, the pilot of a scheduled Tunis Air flight to Lyon, France, became an instant hero at home after he refused to take off Friday with five members of the Trabelsi family on board, airline officials say.

"It was a courageous act that merits being highlighted," Ali Miaoui, director of Tunis Air's French division, told AP Television News.

This is not the first time that anger has crystallized toward the wives of dictators, despots and autocrats.

In the 1980s, the public was more outraged at the spending excesses of Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos – a shoe addict of legendary proportions – than at her husband Ferdinand Marcos, who allegedly amassed billions of dollars in ill-gotten wealth during his 21 years in power.

Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier's marriage to the flamboyant and free-spending Michelle Pasquet estranged the Haitian dictator from his father's old supporters. He was deposed in 1987.

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Barchfield reported from Paris.