Uncanny common characteristics of Najib of Malaysia and Trump in the United States in the way they are trying to make a political comeback in their respective countries

There is an uncanny common characteristic of Najib Razak in Malaysia and Donald Trump in the United States in the way they are trying to make a political comeback in their respective countries.

Over the weekend, Trump publicly toyed with another bid for the White House, with his political organisation announcing it had amassed US$122 million in cash reserves - an unprecedented sum for a former president - conjuring a vision of a second term that would function as a tool of personal vengeance and become even more authoritarian than his first, when he vowed to pardon US Capitol insurrectionists if he runs for the White House again and wins.

As a result, Trump and his fans already referred to him as the 45th and the 47th President.

In Malaysia, the Election Commission will ring the bell for the beginning of the Johore state general election next Wednesday, which is a rehearsal for the sixth Prime Minister to return as the 10th or 11th Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Najib, who had already prepared for his political comeback by opening an international conference and appearing on a front-page interview in a leading national daily though he is a convicted criminal for corruption, is undoubtedly the Malaysian politician who is most- heeled financially commanding the largest fleet of cybertroopers to mould and shape public opinion with lies and disinformation.

Time will tell whether Najib and Trump will succeed in making a political comeback in their respective countries.

But it is worth noting that even Trump, who called Najib his “favourite Prime Minister”, did not exonerate Najib of the 1MDB scandal during his visit to the White House in September 2017 as Trump’s Attorney-General, Jeff Sessions described the 1MDB scandal three months later as “kleptocracy at its worst” and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) continued with its largest kleptocratic litigation on the 1MDB scandal which implicated Najib who was mentioned as “Malaysian Official 1”(“MO1”) more than 30 times in the DOJ civil suit in July 2016.

Just as Trump is not averse to whitewash the Capitol Hill insurrection on January 6, 2021, Najib has no qualms to whitewash the 1MDB scandal and as the DAP MP for Damansara, Tony Pua, has pointed out recently: “Najib is either the worst possible Finance Minister Malaysia has ever had because he doesn’t know how to count, or more likely, he believes that the Malaysian voters are so stupid that they will believe his brazen and blatant lies and twisted truths”.

Will the Johore state general election facilitate Najib in his political comeback as the 10th or 11th Prime Minister of Malaysia?

Former chief justice Abdul Hamid Mohamad has said that Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Najib Razak must step down as Umno president and Barisan Nasional (BN) adviser, respectively, if the party intends to shed the taint of corruption that has been linked to these two leaders.

Last year, MIC asked UMNO to name its Prime Minister before seeking to negotiate seats for the next general election with its partners in the Barisan Nasional.

The MIC statement said neither MIC nor MCA were “yes-men”, adding that their loyalty to BN had its limits.

So who will be UMNO’s Prime Minister after the 15th General Election?

Will he be Ismail Sabri or will MCA and MIC support Najib as Malaysia’s 10th or 11th Prime Minister?