It’s business as usual for Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak amid 1MDB graft scandal
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak unfazed by latest US government action on 1MDB funds, focusing instead on shoring up power at home
The day US prosecutors alleged massive fraud at a Malaysian state fund, it was business as usual thousands of kilometres away for Prime Minister Najib Razak. Attending an evening feast for thousands of civil servants, he shook hands and posed for selfies.
The following day he showed up at the exhibition of a new sedan by the country’s top carmaker and held a national development planning meeting.
He only briefly addressed the US news, saying the Department of Justice action should be allowed to run its course.
The message was clear: the premier is focused on matters at home, especially the economy, as he seeks to preserve support among his ruling party’s base of ethnic Malays, many of them in rural areas. One of his pit stops on Thursday was a speech to employees of a government agency that is tasked with helping thousands of smallholder farmers.
The market is quite clear that Najib is fairly secure at this stage and there isn’t too much of a political challenge to him
Having already weathered a year of scandals over multimillion-dollar political donations, it would take a major development domestically to put the premier at risk of losing his job in the near term.