JUST another day in office.

At least that’s the impression Prime Minister Najib Razak is bent on giving today, a few hours after the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) fired its latest missile towards Putrajaya.

His friends say that the PM is unperturbed by the latest disclosures about corruption and abuse of power at 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and the growing list of assets the US government is seeking to seize as part of its investigation into the flow of funds out of 1MDB. A yacht. Diamonds. Paintings. Movie rights. Apartments.

With the opposition on the verge of imploding, his political party strongly in his corner and with downside from the 1MDB saga already factored into his approval rating, the Najib position appears to be that the latest DoJ suit is just another inconvenience.

But The Malaysian Insight believes that the DoJ action:

1) Will put the 1MDB scandal right back where the Najib administration ‎doesn’t want it to be: on the front pages of newspapers, online portals and on social media platforms.

In short, all these allegations of theft, corruption will be articulated again.

The embattled Malaysian opposition will surely run with the latest nuggets from the DoJ suit and attempt to connect the dots between individuals named in the suit and the PM.

2) Will lead to another round of belly-aching in Umno circles about the government’s inability or unwillingness to throw the book at 1MDB officials or Low Taek Jho or other individuals named in the DoJ suit.

In the past, there have been some pressure from Najib’s supporters for the goverment to punish a few individuals for the wrongdoing at 1MDB, believing that this course of action will ring-fence the PM from further fallout from this episode.

3) Will kill off any speculation that the Trump administration with little appetite for issues outside the US would result in the shelving of the DoJ probe to seize billions of ringgit in assets.

Fact is that the DoJ and FBI seem to be running parallel investigations into the case and this latest filing suggests that both agencies have been working overtime on this case, regardless of the new regime in Washington.

4) Reinvigorate various investigations across the world on the 1MDB issue, from Switzerland to Singapore. Except in Malaysia, where the police have yet to deliver any progress to the prosecution to take action.

There might be a lack of action in Malaysia but the rest of the world isn’t keeping as calm as Najib.

In the end, it is up to Malaysians to figure out what is right and wrong about this entire matter. And decide what they want to do with it. – June 16, 2017.