Handbag and jewellery 運ぶ／漁獲高 puts Malaysia's former first lady in スポットライト
By A. Ananthalakshmi and Emily Chow
KUALA LUMPUR, May 20 (Reuters) - In 早期に 2015, as Malaysians were 抗議するing over 政府 計画（する）s to introduce a 消費 税金, the then first lady was complaining about the rising costs of her hairdresser.
Rosmah Mansor lamented in a speech at a public 会議 on the 実施 of the 税金 that she had to 支払う／賃金 1,200 ringgit ($300) for one hair-dyeing 開会／開廷／会期, at a time when the 最小限 行う 職業 in Malaysia paid 900 ringgit a month.
Rosmah's comments 怒り／怒るd many Malaysians, who had already noticed her 高級な watches and handbags in public 外見s with her husband Najib Razak, who was 追い出すd as 首相 in an 選挙 on May 9.
But with tight 支配（する）／統制するs on the マスコミ, there was little open 批評 of her lavish lifestyle.
Now, after Friday's seizure by police of hundreds of 捕らえる、獲得するs, 含むing expensive Hermes ones, and a stash of jewellery from apartment 部隊s where Najib's family was living, public attention is 焦点（を合わせる）ing on Rosmah.
An unshackled マスコミ and many Malaysians are 率直に 需要・要求するing to know how Rosmah was able to afford an opulent lifestyle. Many have compared her with Imelda Marcos, who left behind more than 1,200 pairs of shoes when her husband Ferdinand Marcos was 追い出すd as 大統領，／社長 of the Philippines in 1986.
Rosmah has long defended her tastes.
"There are some 従犯者s and 着せる／賦与するs that I have bought with my own money. What is wrong with that?," Rosmah, 66, was 引用するd as 説 in an authorised biography published in 2013, when asked about 批評 over her opulent lifestyle.
"As a woman and as the wife of a leader, I have to look made up, neat and take care of my 外見. It is also embarrassing for Malaysians when other countries make fun of the sloppy wife of Malaysia's 首相," she said.
Rosmah, through her 法律 会社／堅い, 問題／発行するd a 声明 on Saturday to 演説（する）／住所 "the 最近の 洪水／多発 of events 主要な to the マスコミ hailst orm" and asked 当局 to follow the 支配する of 法律 and 予定 過程 to 避ける a premature public 裁判，公判. She said the 調査 過程 seemed to have been 妥協d 予定 to 漏れるs, 含むing "詳細（に述べる）s of the 申し立てられた／疑わしい items 押収するd".
Her 法律 会社／堅い and 補佐官s did not 答える／応じる to その上の queries from Reuters.
Since Najib was 敗北・負かすd in the 選挙 by his 助言者-turned-競争相手, Mahathir Mohamad, he has become the 支配する of a money-laundering 調査（する） and, along with Rosmah, has been 閉めだした from leaving the country.
The new 政府 is 調査／捜査するing 主張s of 詐欺 and 汚職 at the 明言する／公表する 基金 1Malaysia 開発 Berhad (1MDB), which was 設立するd by Najib. U.S. 当局 say the former 首相 received nearly $700 million of 基金s コースを変えるd from the 基金.
Najib has 否定するd 悪事を働くこと.
Nearly 300 boxes of designer handbags and dozens of 捕らえる、獲得するs filled with cash and jewellery were の中で the items taken away by police this week from the 所有物／資産／財産s linked to Najib's family.
Items such as Birkin handbags from Hermes and watches were の中で the items 掴むd, police said. The police did not say who the 捕らえる、獲得するs belonged to.
Birkin 捕らえる、獲得するs, 好意d by celebrities like Victoria Beckham, can be 価値（がある） up to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The seizure before 夜明け Friday （機の）カム hours after a photo of Mahathir 報道によれば wearing what appeared to be $3 Bata sandals went viral on social マスコミ, 製図／抽選 comparisons between the two leaders.
地元の マスコミ 報告（する）／憶測s said 52 designer handbags with brand 指名するs like Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Oscar de la Renta were also 掴むd from Najib's 私的な 住居, along with 10 高級な watches.
The U.S. 司法省 申し立てられた／疑わしい in civil 訴訟s last year that some of the 基金s stolen from 1MDB were used to buy jewellery for Rosmah: $27 million for a rare pink diamond and another $1.3 million for 27 gold necklaces.
"I AM NOT PERFECT"
Rosmah's beginnings were humble. She was born in 1951 in Kuala Pilah, a small t own in Peninsular Malaysia's southwestern 明言する／公表する of Negeri Sembilan.
によれば her 2013 biography, she 熟考する／考慮するd sociology and anthropology at a 地元の public university, before 追求するing a masters degree at Louisiana 明言する／公表する University in the 部隊d 明言する／公表するs. In her biography she について言及するs her 財政上の difficulties as a student and in her first 職業 at an 農業 bank, where she earned 800 ringgit a month.
She stopped working in 1987 to 焦点（を合わせる） on starting a family with Najib, who was then Malaysia's 青年 and sports 大臣, によれば the biography.
After Najib became 首相, Rosmah 焦点（を合わせる）d on charity work, 供給するing 援助（する） to underprivileged children, women's support groups and health and sports advocacy.
A day after the U.S. 主張 last year over Rosmah's $27 million 購入（する） of a pink diamond, her lawyers 問題／発行するd a notice 脅すing to 告訴する anyone who produced "誤った, malicious 出版（物）s or 地位，任命するing" against her.
In the last pages of her biography, Rosmah asks for Malaysians to 受託する her as she is.
"I hope people 受託する the reality that I am a 正規の／正選手 human 存在. I am not perfect." ($1 = 3.9700 ringgit) (報告（する）／憶測ing by A. Ananthalakshmi and Emily Chow; 付加 報告（する）／憶測ing by Tom Westbrook and Rozanna Latiff; Editing by John Chalmers and Philip McClellan)
