Pakatan warns about 'Bossku'

MM Online:

In drawing its election battle plan, Pakatan cautioned against writing off ‘Bossku’ Najib

Datuk Seri Najib Razak is pictured at the Kuala Lumpur High Court July 1, 2020

Picture by Firdaus Latif

KUALA LUMPUR, July 3 — His detractors have dismissed him as a mere internet troll.

Few leaders in Pakatan Harapan (PH), when in power or as the current Opposition, bother to entertain his daily vitriols. While his newfound popularity among disenfranchised Malay youth has been the subject of much debate, many of his rivals appear uninterested to know why.

The 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal and dozens or so corruption charges saddled on Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s back may explain this apparent lack of regard that PH leaders have for the man whose scandals helped end five decades of Barisan Nasional (BN) rule, pundits opined.

But with the Perikatan Nasional (PN) administration’s plan for snap polls now appearing likely, they cautioned rivals against writing the former prime minister off.

If anything, the “Bossku” phenomenon, the culmination of a slick social media campaign that has earned the Pekan MP pop star status, not only suggests Najib is still very much relevant, but also a force to contend with.

One piece of evidence is the groundswell of support for the Umno-PAS alliance, said Oh Ei Sun, a senior fellow at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs.

Operating from the sidelines, Najib led an effective social media drive to galvanise protest against the PH government, riding on ethnic tension and anger fueled by a slew of unfulfilled election promises to help BN win four by-elections, all within the second year of PH rule.

Oh said Najib’s public relations push, built around a contrived image of the former prime minister as the common man and is likely the work of expensive communications and image consultants, proved effective because it provided the then Opposition with a relatable figure.

“The groundswell was epitomised or personified by Najib mainly because Umno at the time did not have a presentable figure,” Oh said.

“(Umno) needs to attract not just young and moderate votes, but also conservative heartland votes... and Najib was the only one who was able to do so.”

Various polls seemed to confirm Najib’s popularity.

One of them, the “Malaysian Opposition Parties Strategic Survey” conducted by PR firm Citrine One, found the former Umno president to be the second-most “trusted” Opposition leader among younger urban voters, next to former Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin.

Political scientists have not been able to pinpoint exactly why the corruption allegations against the former Umno president have not stuck.

Years of rivals harping about Najib’s link to the 1MDB fiasco and the constant media spotlight of the drama around his criminal trial instead have induced a sense of fatigue, or even scepticism about the allegations, something particularly evident among ethnic Malays, they said.

All this, according to Sivamurugan Pandian, political scientist with Universiti Sains Malaysia, is working to the former prime minister’s advantage.

“The more he is criticised, the more sympathy he gains... he’s popular because of his ‘communication skills’ which reach various target groups,” he said.

“Focusing extensively on his cases will not bring any good as it is almost 26 months since the 14th general election.”

Just after the GE14 polls, Najib's name was mud, but as time drags on and nothing has yet been proven against him vis-a-vis the 1MDB allegations, Najib became more and more popular with younger Malays whom he extolled in his rendition of Cliff Richard's "The Young Ones", wakakaka.

Najib's popularity was also enhanced by Atuk's meanness, mafulat-ism, Machiavellianism, maliciousness and malignancy, its rate in accordance with the inverse-rule.

I heard many "aunties" mentioning how generous Najib was when he administered the government as PM, unlike ketuanan and dadikasi Maddy.

Who's to be blamed but none other than Atuk and his DAP cohorts, the latter being already hated by Malays because of UMNO-PAS' quite successful racial abuses.

... unless it's about Chinese being blardy eff-ing rich