Prime Minister Najib Razak is seen as being a great many things these days, for better or for worse. Malaysians view him as the last bastion of Barisan Nasional strength and a catalyst for unity in trying times … or the source of those trying times himself (if you read Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s blog, among others).
But yesterday was Father’s Day, and even Prime Ministers have dads – and can be dads themselves. So PM Najib took a trip down memory lane to remind himself and others that family still means a great deal to him – and as far as his relationship with his own father, the late Prime Minister Abdul Razak is concerned, it also means a great deal to his current job as Malaysia’s leader.
Najib posted two separate photos to his official Facebook account, one about his father’s lgeacy, and the other about his own:
That’s a powerful juxtaposition of prime ministerial fortunes if we’ve ever seen one: a photo collage of his late father Abdul Razak holding court with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah, with an eerily similar photo of himself in his current position as PM with the same Yang di-Pertuan Agong (Tuanku Abdul Halim of Kedah is so far the only Malay Ruler to have held the 5-year position for two separate terms).
The late Abdul Razak certainly was a father Najib shared with the rest of Malaysia.
The second photo Najib shared was of him and his son Ashman:
For reference, here’s what globe-trotting, Mandarin-speaking Ashman looks like now:
Needless to say, both of Najib’s posts went dependably viral, with almost 90,000 Likes and more than a thousand Shares between them.
The only constant is change, sir. But sons and their fathers change together. Happy belated Father’s Day!
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