Diplomatic Stoush

Martha Stewart and Rosmar Mansour

The fur is still flying over the recent visits of Malaysia's 'First Lady' Rosmar Mansour the wife of the prime minister Najib Rasak.
 A fan of local fashion designs by Paddington's Carl Kapp, Rosmar is said to have picked up $100,000 worth of Kapp's designs although she has claimed the clothing was purchased on behalf of a Malaysian boutique.

Carl Kapp

A Sydney columnist who wrote of her visit has ended up with a mention in dispatches-namely with PM Rasak telling media that the report was 'fabricated'.
 Co-incidentally the day Rosmar was visiting Kapp's boutique the Shuttle was caught in a mini traffic jam as her large black windowed SUV blocked tiny William Street in Paddo, presumably while the First Lady flicked through clothing racks.

But it's the awarding to Rosmar of an honorary doctorate of letters at Curtin University in Perth that has now elevated her visits to crisis level.
 Following the announcement of the award the universities Facebook page was inundated with 1000's of angry comments from Malasyian students who study at Curtin -there are some 2500 there-slamming the award and likening Rosmar to shoe lover Imelda Marcos.

As fast as the University burghers removed the Facebook comments more kept appearing. Now the pages have been cleansed and an ominous warning has appeared :

 Curtin University    Hi all. We have issued several requests to comply with our 'rules of engagement' on this wall. There are now so many personal attacks, allegations of ciminal activity, and hate mongering that we are obliged under the Defamation Act 2006 to remove this type of content
                                  
Meanwhile the Malaysian Blog For Change insinuates all sorts of shady shenanigans have been going on and questions who paid for visits to Malaysia by actor Robert de Niro and Martha Stewart. It's all very exciting. We await the next episode.