When mind games go wrong…
There were three mind games, which had been defined as psychological tactics used to manipulate or intimidate, which went horribly wrong yesterday.
The first was when the UMNO President and former Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi turned up at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court to provide moral support for former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak , who was slapped with an additional six charges to total 38 charges, just seven short of Zahid’s total of 45 charges on corruption, money-laundering and abuse of power.
He later tweeted a photograph of the two of them seated together and stated that the “relentless attack” against the pair would not break their spirit.
“We will remain steadfast in the struggle.
“This overkill leads to a trust deficit in the government. It greatly benefits the accused. Thank-you for dragging us (to court).”
The second was the attempt by Najib’s lawyer, Tan Sri Mohd Shafee Abdullah to mock six fresh charges against his client as “very foolish”, even saying that “the defence in this case will have fun, and the prosecution will have a nightmare”.
The third was Najib’s claim that he was unfairly prosecuted in the six new charges as his decisions staved off Malaysia from default on a national debt and that his conscience was clear.
May be Najib expected the nation to be eternally grateful to him for securing recognition from no less a figure as the United States Attorney-General Jeff Sessions for “kleptocracy at its worst” for the international 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal and causing Malaysia to be regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy.
But the historic May 9, 2018 results of the 14th General Election showed that Najib was very wrong.
It is two weeks since Najib sought public donations to assist him and other “anti-government activists” allegedly being silenced by the Pakatan Harapan government. Why is there no public accountability as to how much funds had been raised so far?
The mind games by Zahid, Shafee and Najib went horribly wrong when later on the same day, the Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad said in Bangkok that “One by one, more BN leaders will be hauled to court”.