Ignoring 1MDB scandal caused Umno’s downfall in Malaysia: Najib lieutenant Khairy Jamaluddin

Youth chief rules out running for presidency of the United Malays National Organisation, warning it must embrace change – possibly including multiracial membership – or face irrelevance

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Vote loser: the 1MDB scandal. Photo: EPA

Published: 2:15pm, 4 Jun 2018Updated: 9:30pm, 4 Jun 2018

A key lieutenant of the defeated Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak once viewed as a potential successor to the top political job has said the collective failure of government ministers to exert sustained pressure on their leader over the 1MDB financial scandal may have caused their “catastrophic” defeat in last month’s polls.

In an interview with This Week in Asia, Khairy Jamaluddin said his United Malays National Organisation (Umno) – the linchpin party of the defeated Barisan Nasional coalition – was in danger of irrelevance if its three million party members resisted structural changes needed to take on the now-ruling Pakatan Harapan alliance at the next general election.

“We perhaps missed an opportunity, all of us, to convey the truth of the gravity of the situation,” the youth chief of Umno, 42, said when asked about the scandal for which Najib is now facing criminal investigation.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Najib’s one-time mentor who crossed aisles to defeat the premier because of his alleged links to graft, has said criminal charges against the deposed leader are imminent.

Malaysia’s billion-dollar question: where did 1MDB money go?

Najib has denied wrongdoing in the case, which came to public attention in 2015.

US prosecutors say around US$4.5 billion was looted from the 1MDB state fund, with some US$700 million routed to the ex-premier’s personal accounts.

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