AT a cafe near the embassy row in Ampang, two elderly women were in deep discussion yesterday.

Newspapers lay sprawled in front of them, and they were indulging in the latest Malaysian pastime: keeping abreast on the amount of handbags, jewellery, cash and other stuff recovered  from properties owned by Najib Razak and Rosmah Mansor and two condominium units belonging to a property tycoon.

There is no satisfying this curiosity. People are hunched over their smartphones watching live-streaming video or video clips sent through chat apps.

After so many years of speculation about the enormous wealth of the former prime minister and his wife and her ostentatious taste, this is a surreal moment in Malaysian history when all the rumours of Rosmah’s extravagance are being confirmed.

Malaysians are witnessing the public shaming and dignity being stripped off a couple who only 10 days ago had it all – power, prestige and the unmistakable air that the good times would roll on indefinitely.

Indeed, conventional wisdom was that had Najib and his Barisan Nasional won GE14, he would be the prime minister for as long as he desired.

Malaysians are thankful that all predictions were turned on their head and Pakatan Harapan is now occupying Putrajaya.

Video clips of police officers carting off bags packed with foreign currencies and possibly gold bars have gone viral. So has a snapshot of Najib looking worn out as police officers conducted a marathon search at his private home in an upmarket Taman Duta enclave.

As this drama unfolds, every piece of information – verified or not – about the raids is being consumed and shared. Yesterday, Sin Chew Daily reported that police have seized about RM100 million worth of gold bars.

Police didn’t deny or confirm the report, with the most recognisable police officer over the past 24 hours – Amar Singh of the commercial crime division – only saying that it was too early to put a value to the items seized.

To date, 284 handbags including many in their distinctive orange Hermes boxes and 72 luggage bags containing cash and jewellery have been seized.

To satisfy the appetite for any morsel of juicy news on the life of the rich and infamous, television stations are giving unprecedented blow-by-blow accounts as the authorities uncover the wealth of Najib and Rosmah.

Call this Malaysia’s Marcos moment.

In 1986, Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos and his wife, Imelda, fled the country for Hawaii. The dictator and his flashy wife were forced to run after decades of corruption, the murder of a political opponent and an attempt to steal the elections led to a popular uprising.

In her haste to leave the Malacanang Palace, Imelda left behind a personal safe with pearls, a grocery-sized carton of beaded turquoise necklaces, hundreds of pieces of jewellery, hundreds of designer dresses and some 1,200 pairs of shoes.

The Marcoses also had US$350 million (RM1.4 billion) worth of real estate, mainly in the United States. Switzerland turned in some US$683 million in bank accounts in the president’s name.

After the family fled, there was wall-to-wall coverage in the media on how much wealth had been accumulated by the first family in their years in power.

Ordinary Filipinos were astounded to learn that that Marcos was alleged to have siphoned off US$10 billion. And when they fled, 89 family members and servants carried US$10,000 each and their jet held 50 pounds of gold bullions.

A second plane carried 22 boxes filled with US$1.2 million.

Ordinary Filipinos, many of whom were struggling to make ends meet, were shocked that one person owned more than a 1,000 pairs of shoes.

In Malaysia today, the sentiment among wage-earners is the same.

Why would one woman need 284 handbags‎? Is there more?

They question, criticise but they want the raids and discovery to continue. – May 19, 2018.