PRIME Minister Najib Razak did not do anything surprising or extraordinary today when he chose to stand up for his religion over his friendship with US President Donald J. Trump.

Any Muslim leader in any country in the world who wanted to be recognised as a Muslim leader would have done the same, every day of the year. To do otherwise would have been political suicide.

Any Muslim leader hoping to bolster his image as a defender of the faith in a tough upcoming election, where the majority of voters are Muslim, would certainly have slammed the decision by Trump to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. To do otherwise would be to miss an opportunity to gain mileage among the Muslim electorate.

And Najib doesn’t miss these opportunities. 

So, at a rally to protest the US decision, he thundered: “Yes, I was welcomed at the White House. Yes, Donald Trump is a good friend of mine but in terms of principles, I will not forsake the sanctity of Islam.”

Fact is, Najib is in a win-win situation. 

He milked the visit to the White House to show that despite the Department of Justice’s probe into the grand scale theft at 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), he was the first leader in the region to be invited by Trump. 

That visit helped the narrative that the Malaysian leader was not scarred by the scandal at the sovereign wealth fund.

But the bump from that visit only lasted a few weeks. The more unpopular Trump became around the world, especially the Muslim world, Najib’s ties with him became more of a disadvantage. The opposition have already began to paint Najib as a sidekick of the unpopular Trump – a caricature that would have hurt him in the Malay heartland.

Trump’s decision to unilaterally recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel gave Najib a good opportunity to put some distance between him and the American leader.

So, Najib didn’t do anything surprising or extraordinary when he chose to stand up for his faith over his friendship with Trump over the issue of Jerusalem.

He did what was necessary. – December 22, 2017.