Deputy Prime Minister Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is known as a ruthless straight talker, unafraid to get harsh with the truth if the situation calls for it. So it was a nice change of pace for the combative DPM to sing someone’s praises for once – this time, he commended his own boss, Prime Minister Najib Razak.
Of course, Zahid said those nice things at the launch of a book about Najib, so maybe he was just being nice. Who knows?
“I observe that he (Najib) has extraordinary patience,” Zahid said at the launch of the coffee table book Najib Razak: 40 Years 40 Pictures in KL Sentral today.
“I have personally witnessed this from the various challenges he has been through,” he added, as quoted by The Malay Mail Online‘s Kamles Kumar.
Zahid also said the PM was never quick to dismiss negative rumours about people he works with.
“Even though we have heard about this person and we get a lot of reports about the individual, he (Najib) never entertains or even add on to the negative aspects of the individual,” he said.
“Compared to some of us who would have different judgement.”
Najib has been under intense scrutiny for over the past year, mainly due to his alleged involvement in the ongoing 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal.
The PM also came under considerable pressure for sacking former deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin (who Zahid succeeded) last year, along with several other members of his Cabinet, ostensibly over their criticisms of Najib’s handling of the controversies surrounding him.
Najib has also made a intractable enemy in former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who has made it his personal mission to see Najib removed from power.
WIth all that, it only serves as an act of common sense for Zahid to say nothing but nice things, no?
