PRIME Minister Najib Razak is not going to get a huge image boost from a visit to the White House except for a few days of domestic media frenzy, observers said, adding that he is more likely to come away empty handed.

Analysts and a politician agreed that the visit will spark some interest, and the US would be able to elicit some help from Malaysia, but there would be little lasting impact to bolster Najib’s image ahead of the 14^th general election. They attributed this to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal.

Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) CEO Wan Saiful Wan Jan did not see how the visit would improve Najib’s image ahead of GE14 or what Malaysia could take away from a meeting with President Donald Trump.

“Trump is not the kind of person that most Malaysians want to be associated with. So, this visit is unlikely to generate significant improvement in how Najib is seen in this country,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Instead, Wan Saiful said the visit could spark speculation that Najib would use the meeting to talk about the US Department of Justice’s (DoJ) investigations into funds allegedly stolen from 1MDB, involving one of his family members.

“People are bound to make the accusation that he (Najib) is going there to beg for favours, even if this is not his intention. 

“It will become particularly problematic if the DoJ suddenly softens its stance after the visit because there will be people claiming that Najib and Trump have struck a deal behind closed doors,” he said.

Another analyst, however, James Chin from the Asia Institute at University of Tasmania, did not think both leaders would discuss 1MDB.

“DoJ has filed legal action on the matter and it would not warrant any conversation,” said Chin, adding that Trump would likely use the meeting to show that the US remains committed to Southeast Asia in view of China’s increased presence in the South China Sea.

The US is expected to ask Putrajaya for help in areas such as stemming North Korea’s influence in the region and in counter-terrorism.

Chin said the visit would still be considered a public relations “coup” for Najib.

“For a long time, the opposition has been saying he is a kleptocrat and that US administration will not meet him. 

“Najib can now say that the opposition is wrong that the US does not want to meet him,” said Chin, adding that Najib was likely to gain more in terms of exposure from this visit than Trump, as Malaysia is not well known to most Americans.

Najib will be the fourth Asean leader to meet Trump who is just less than eight months into his term.

Prior to this, Trump met Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in the White House in May. In July, he met with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Indonesia’s president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo at the sidelines of the G-20 summit. 

The opposition, however, believes Najib will go to the meeting with the spectre of 1MDB hanging over him and this will colour any potential gain he could make from a White House visit.

DAP’s Tony Pua said Najib may still try to use the visit to deal with his problems involving 1MDB and suits by the DoJ but added that it would be an uphill task because of the independence of US institutions.

“Unlike the Malaysian institutions, US political and legal institutions are much less susceptible to external meddling, even by the most powerful person in America.

“President Trump can’t even shake off investigations into his own scandals or force Congress and the Supreme Court to accept his edicts, much less about the affairs of a politically distant country of Malaysia,” the Petaling Jaya Utara MP said.

The DoJ has launched a criminal investigation into funds allegedly stolen from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), Najib’s brainchild.

The department recently sought to delay civil suits filed in the past two years to forfeit more than US$1 billion (RM4.3 billion) in real estate and other assets so that the criminal probe could proceed.

In the civil cases, the department alleged that between 2009 and 2015, more than US$4.5 billion belonging to 1MDB was diverted by high-level officials of the state investor and their associates.

In June, DoJ filed another suit to seize US$540 million in assets, including the US$165 million yacht Equanimity, owned by Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, and the rights to comedy movie Dumb and Dumber To, produced by Red Granite, a production house co-owned by Riza Aziz, Najib’s stepson.

Amanah strategy director Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said with the shadow of 1MDB hanging over Najib, there was little he would achieve out of a visit with Trump.

“All effort to turn around the trust deficit (against Najib) on the verge of the elections is futile,” he said. – August 24, 2017.