DESPITE a conviction for graft, former prime minister Najib Razak is getting away with half-truths and a carefully crafted social media image because a large number of people still believe in him, analysts and commentators said.

They said Najib is pandering to a gullible segment of society, and is able to do so because he has been in power long enough to be able to use past events to his advantage.

Given that Najib is in Barisan Nasional (BN), a coalition that has led the country for more than 60 years, it is easier for him to use his track record selectively to showcase his and the country’s successes under his administration.

James Chin of University of Tasmania said Najib is still influential even if some of his claims are not the full picture.

“He believes his ‘bossku’ persona is very popular among young people and as we have seen recently in the Philippine elections where they repackaged the Marcos family, you can be successful by telling half-truths,” Chin said.

“(It works) for young people and people who don’t read the news or people who don’t believe the news, (they will believe Najib). 

“For example, some young Malays believe he is a victim of political conspiracy. His core supporters, those who used to make a living off him, will of course not believe it, they want him to get back to power so that they can get the benefits.”

Chin added that it doesn’t help that Malaysians easily forget the past.

“Malaysians are stupid and they have short memories. Just like Dr Mahathir Mohamad (former prime minister) said, ‘Melayu mudah lupa’,” he said.

Najib has 4.6 million followers on Facebook and 977,000 followers on Instagram.

The Pekan MP is more active on Facebook, posting updates a few times a day on topics that resonate with ordinary folk such as the high cost of living and urging the government to allow more Employees Provident Fund withdrawals. 

He also uploads posts that are aimed at showing how policies on the economy were better when he was prime minister, while attacking Pakatan Harapan or taking jabs at Dr Mahathir as well as Bersatu. There are also posts that show him at events surrounded by crowds of cheering people.

Oh Ei Sun, the principal adviser of Pacific Research Centre, said Najib’s ability to maintain support stems from being part of a long-standing ruling coalition.

“In many developing countries that could at most qualify as illiberal or pseudo-democracy, long-ruling incumbent parties or politicians often have an almost in-built systemic electoral advantage,” Oh said.

“If the economy is doing well, and most, if not all, strata of society are happy, they could take all the credit for having steered the country so, and be handsomely rewarded electorally. 

“If the economy is doing badly, then there would be sufficient portions of the hard-to-do populations, who are not well-exposed or politically exposed and thus believe in all sorts of things fed to them by the powers-that-be, especially if promises of material or financial disbursement are involved.”

G25 spokesman Noor Farida Mohd Ariffin, meanwhile, said all this is part of Najib’s strategy to return to power.

“He is hoping Umno will elect him again as party president. He is hoping to be PM again, which is ridiculous. A convicted felon is prohibited to contest, the constitution bars him,” she said.

The former ambassador is referring to Najib’s conviction by the High Court in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case, involving abuse of power over a RM4 million loan from the Retirement Fund Inc to SRC, and criminal breach of trust and money-laundering involving RM42 million of SRC funds. 

Najib has been sentenced to 12 years in jail and a RM210 million fine, but is currently appealing his conviction and sentence in the Federal Court.

Noor Farida said “right-thinking” Malaysians won’t believe everything that Najib says.

“Many people in rural areas still think he was framed. They don’t read about the evidence in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and SRC International trials.”

Topics and tactics Najib uses to project a clean image:

1. Accusing Pakatan Harapan of sacking the attorney-general and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief during its 22-month term

During his debate with opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim last week, Najib made this accusation. In reality, however, he has done the same.

In 2015, Najib replaced attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail with Mohamed Apandi Ali. He also replaced then MACC chief commissioner Abu Kassim Mohamed with Dzulkifli Ahmad when the anti-graft agency opened an investigation into 1MDB.

Najib had also sacked his then deputy and also former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin over his criticisms of 1MDB.

2. Cash is king, king is the people 

Najib’s “explanation” for this phrase often used against him by Dr Mahathir stumped many with its “logic”. He said that “the king means the people” during the same debate with Anwar last week.

International Islamic University of Malaysia’s Tunku Mohar Tunku Mohd Mokhtar said this explanation is nonsensical.

“It is nonsensical of course. The logic does not add up. But among his supporters, he is celebrated because he equates the rakyat with the king. 

“In reality, the token cash handouts do not last, and people become dependent on such handouts,” he said.

3. Claiming selective prosecution 

Najib has also been very vocal about being a victim of selective prosecution by the PH government, which brought graft charges against him with regard to 1MDB and SRC International. 

However, during Najib’s tenure as PM, PKR president Anwar Ibrahim accused him of orchestrating another round of sodomy charges, which saw Anwar go to jail a second time in 2015.

4. Cherry-picking quotes and taking them out of context

A recent example is DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang’s statement on the country’s state of affairs in which he asked rhetorically, “Will the houses of the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Malaysia be set on fire by angry protesters as happened in Sri Lanka last week?”

Najib zoomed in on that particular sentence to accuse Lim of inciting the public, ignoring the rest of Lim’s statement that he felt such an act would not happen anytime soon but should be taken as a warning about Malaysians’ hardship as a result of corruption by those in power.

5. Government has not paid 1MDB debt 

In March this year, Najib claimed in Parliament that not a single sen of public funds has been used to service 1MDB’s principal debt.

This proved to be untrue when Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz issued a rebuttal, saying the government will begin servicing the principal debt once the bonds issued by the sovereign fund and its subsidiaries mature, at least two of them by May this year.

The Malaysian government has repaid RM13.3 billion of 1MDB’s debt so far, with RM38.81 billion still outstanding as of December 31 last year, according to the Finance Ministry (MOF).

MOF said the misappropriated funds, which it has seized and recovered from multiple jurisdictions totalling RM19.1 billion, are only enough to cover repayment for this year.

6. RM2.6 billion is donation from Arab royalty 

Najib has time and time again stood by his assertion that the RM2.6 billion credited to his private bank accounts were donations from Arab royalty in the SRC International trial.

In a judgment by the Court of Appeal last December, the judges said Najib’s Arab donation story “surpasses those from the Arabian Nights”, a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales, and subsequently dismissed his appeal.

7. Malaysia’s debt increased to RM1 trillion under PH

On social media, Najib blamed PH for increasing the country’s debt from RM686.8 billion in 2017 to RM1 trillion in 2018, months after PH took over.

However, DAP lawmaker Tony Pua dismissed Najib’s claim. Pua said by the time the PH government took over, national debt was already RM1 trillion and was inherited entirely from Najib’s BN government. 

Pua said Najib’s administration hid the debt from the public by pretending that the government debt was only RM687 billion through “off-balance sheet projects” and public-private partnership projects. 

8. Crowds and supporters at Najib’s events

Najib’s well-curated social media feed often shows him surrounded by throngs of supporters. But Noor Farida said it is possible that the crowds were orchestrated.

“It’s not beyond him to do that. For people suffering from pandemic, even RM50 is still a lot of money,” she said.

Tunku Mohar also agreed that some were likely paid off.

“I think they are his supporters. But I also think that they are paid to surround him. I don’t think he is charismatic enough to have people following him.”

9. Continued ties with foreign dignitaries and royalty

Despite his fall from grace, Najib has continued to foster close ties with foreign dignitaries and rub shoulders with royalty.

This again, is his advantage being in a party that has ruled Malaysia for six decades. Tunku Mohar said Najib has built personal ties during his tenure as PM.

“With foreign dignitaries, they are mostly personal ties that he developed since his time with the government. He had also developed friendly ties with members of the royalty. 

“With the Pahang sultan, he is a member of the royal court. So, it is not surprising that he’s invited to events in the palace.”

Najib is also a Orang Besar Berempat Pahang, a hereditary title given by the sultan.

He and wife Rosmah Mansor, who is also facing trial for corruption involving a hybrid project for Sarawak schools, were at a Hari Raya event at Istana Abdulaziz in Kuantan, Pahang, at the invitation of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. – May 22, 2022.