How bad are things right now for besieged former Prime Minister Najib Razak? Dark enough that the longtime Man United super-fan is willingly embracing a Liverpool FC slogan now that it’s in service to his post-election scramble to maintain his last scrap of dignity.
We’re not sure that the Najib-loving party members necessarily understood the football-related irony as they took to the streets yesterday with signs bearing the Liverpool slogan #YNWA (“you’ll never walk alone”), but at this point, beggars can’t be choosers, can they?
Battling vainly against the political tsunami that swept their man from power, the former PM’s most stalwart supporters marched and asked that you take a minute out of your busy schedule to think of their fallen hero.
Yes, please spare a thought for Najib as his leadership, governance and general morals are investigated by police and the anti-corruption commission. Stay strong, they have urged him.
If clinging to the man directly responsible for the downfall of the only ruling coalition in Malaysian history doesn’t represent some kind of Stockholm Syndrome, then we’re not entirely sure what’s going on here.
But asking the former PM to exhibit strength shouldn’t be too hard: He spent the better part of nearly 10 years in power quelling any voices of opposition, ousting party members who inquired into missing funds, and creating a de facto ivory tower so un-scalable that not even fellow party members could voice their concerns to him.
Many of these apologists continue to promulgate the notion that Najib was, in fact, a very open man.
Puteri Umno chief Rosnah Abdul Rashid told The Malay Mail today that Najib always “answered my texts,” although the content of her messages was not elaborated. She added that “everyone should shoulder the blame equally,” which is something that would make sense if everyone held equal power and Najib wasn’t, y’know, a party leader meant to lead by example.
Despite having sacked Muhyiddin Yassin as his deputy and Shafie Apdal as a minister over their criticisms of the 1MDB corruption scandal, Umno supreme council member Puad Zarkashi insists that Jibby was really a soft-touch, and never one to scold a critique.
Mmmkay — let’s sort this out Coconuts KL style: If the former PM had spinach in his teeth, could you say “I think you have spinach in your teeth,” and have him be totally be grateful for it? Or would he get red, mumble thanks, and forget to invite you for dinner? Cuz if it’s the latter, he’s not open to critique, OK?
Puad has gone on the attack, saying that public statements made by Umno’s youth chief, Khairy Jamaluddin — who alleged that criticism was not welcome among the former leader’s inner circle — are not only false, but that he should be spending his time figuring out why the party’s youth failed to deliver at the polls.
KJ, have a seat, we’ll handle this one, you look like you could use a nap or seven.
Puad, sir — we suspect that Umno failed to attract youth support this time around because they have this thing called the internet to tell them about news you tried to quash, they have the necessary critical thinking to process that information, an insouciance towards any kind of party legacy, and precisely the kind of blind chutzpah necessary for change that only the youth possess.
You may also want to look at the party rot from within, the flagrant corruption of officials in power, and the flaunting of ill-gotten gains by those close to power. That’s the kind of stuff that gives the youth a real disinterest in making sure the old guard stays in power. But what do we know? We could barely remember what year it was today.
While sympathy for Najib is going to be harder to extract from us than juice from an asam boi (dried plum), we can’t help but shed a tear for all the terrible PR his camp inexplicably keeps manufacturing. Sir, you need to find the hole and plug that thing stat. No one cares about your chocs gone missing.
