FORMER prime minister Najib Razak’s continued popularity is a manifestation of the frustration against the current government and leaders, said analysts.

“I believe some people are leaning towards him because they are frustrated with their current situation, which Najib has successfully associated with Perikatan Nasional’s failure,” said International Islamic University of Malaysia’s Tunku Mohar Tunku Mohd Mokhtar.

“Moreover, Najib is voicing the frustrations felt by many against the system,” said the political science lecturer.

Tunku Mohar said that Najib even has support among Umno grassroots members again after his resignation in 2018 following Barisan Nasional’s first general election defeat.

“However, I think this is mainly contributed by Umno’s weak leadership. This weakness has brought back a sense of nostalgia among the Umno members for Najib,” he added.

He said Najib’s resurgence is somewhat similar to that of Dr Mahathir Mohamad when the latter returned to the seat of power in 2018.

University Teknologi Malaysia’s Mazlan Ali attributed Najib’s rebound to his ability to rebrand himself after 2018.

“Despite a low point after GE14 and having to resign as Umno president, Najib found a new way of repositioning himself on social media,” said Mazlan.

He said that Najib’s “Bossku” image has allowed him to connect with frustrated youths and this has helped his “phenomenal” success on social media.

A check in January saw Najib receiving the most Facebook engagements at 4.4 million hits in a week. After Najib, the next highest politicians were Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, Muar MP Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman, Pakatan Harapan chairman Anwar Ibrahim and Dr Mahathir.

His image aside, Mazlan said that people have also started to sympathise with Najib.

“They see him being charged with multiple corruption and abuse of power cases and even a bankruptcy case by the Inland Revenue Board, but despite this, Najib’s calmness and cool has made more Malay supporters sympathetic for their former leader,” said Mazlan.

He said that Najib’s legal troubles have allowed many to emphasise and sympathise with him. 

Unlike other countries, Mazlan said that Malaysians are generally more tolerant of corruption.

“Many will compromise on their leaders being corrupt so long as their own interests are being looked after,” said the political science researcher.

“More than that, Najib also continues to make spontaneous appearances at night markets and Ramadan bazaars in his constituency Pekan, making him even more approachable and likeable to voters now,” said Mazlan.

Najib is currently facing four separate corruption and abuse of power trials involving 1MDB-Tanore, tampering with the 1MDB audit report, and 1MDB forfeiture suit.

He is also appealing his conviction and sentencing for misappropriating RM42 million in SRC International funds while he was prime minister.

Last July, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined RM210 million for seven counts of corruption, including abuse of power, money laundering and criminal breach of trust. – May 2, 2021.