The latest fallout revolving around Malaysia’s scandal-tainted ex-premier Najib Razak involves designer handbags. Lots and lots of ‘em, with many stuffed with cash and jewelry according to Malaysian police, who’ve conducted overnight raids on five properties linked to the former prime minister as part of graft investigations.
Najib’s wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor has long been reviled by Malaysians for her reported vast collection of designer handbags, clothing, and jewelry, acquired on jet-set overseas shopping trips. Her reputation contributed to accusations that the ousted ruling establishment had lost touch with economically struggling and middle-class Malaysians.
Part of the antipathy for 67-year-old is none other than her physical appearance. Of course, we believe that beauty comes from within and looks aren’t everything — but from what we’ve heard from her own daughter, Rosmah ain’t exactly winsome on the inside. Aside from allegations of being emotionally and physically abusive, Rosmah would also have witch doctors, shaman and aesthetic doctors coming and going from the house.
Dr. Siew Tuck Wah — a prominent doctor in Singapore in the field of non-invasive medical aesthetics — readily offered his own take, and it focuses specifically on the physical. Rosmah, he says, is regarded as the poster girl for bad plastic surgery procedures amongst practicing doctors.
“She is the living example of what medical aesthetic procedures should NOT result in,” he wrote in a hilariously withering blog post that wrecks her facial appearance.
“Old pictures of Rosmah in 1989 show that she was a beautiful woman – a far cry from how she looks like today. How then, did she end up looking like the scary gargoyle we are familiar with?”
Read his piece in full on his website, and check out some highlights below.
On facial fillers
“One thing is for sure – Rosmah has had way too much fillers to her entire face – especially the cheeks, nasolabial folds, marionette lines, and chin. This has led to gross distortion of her facial contours, making her look like an overinflated balloon with little semblance to her younger self. Rosmah’s desire for excess apparently did not end with luxury watches and Birkin handbags – with facial injections, it seems like she adopted the same attitude as well. Less is more for facial fillers. Too much, and you end up looking like Rosmah.”
On the botox nightmare
“Rosmah is the embodiment of everyone’s Botox nightmare — overly froze, unable to move any facial expressions. Whether she is angry, passionate or greedily lusting after the latest Franck Muller watch, we will never know, since her facial muscles are paralyzed beyond capable of showing any expressions. This baffles me – I thought we only saw such Botox disasters in the early 2000s when doctors were injecting too much with little experience. Today, such horrible work is a crime to humanity.”
On how medical aesthetic treatments can go wrong
“Rosmah’s face proves one thing — money cannot buy you good taste. With advances in techniques, we can do so much with surgical and non-surgical techniques. She is a living reminder that medical aesthetic treatments can swing both ways – they can make us look youthful and more beautiful, or in her case, grotesque, bizarre and deformed.”
Editor’s Note: Article amended to reflect that Dr. Siew is a doctor — not a surgeon as initially reported.
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