In Malaysia, is Najib’s thumbs-up photo a challenge to Muhyiddin’s promise to fight corruption?

Muhyiddin Yassin was appointed as prime minister with the support of former PM Najib Razak’s corruption-tainted party Umno

But this led to concerns that few of Malaysia’s political elite were willing to clean up corruption

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Published: 9:25pm, 3 Mar 2020Updated: 9:56pm, 3 Mar 2020

After a week of political turmoil in Malaysia, former premier Najib Razak made his first public comments on the developments on Tuesday, saying he believed newly appointed Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin had enough support to survive a no-confidence vote in parliament and should be given a chance to execute his duties.

Najib, 66, led Malaysia for nine years before losing a general election in 2018 to Mahathir Mahathir, 94, whose shock resignation last week following the collapse of his Pakatan Harapan coalition resulted in the appointment of Muhyiddin. Mahathir said he felt “betrayed” by Muhyiddin, and sought an urgent confidence vote in parliament to show he had the numbers to form a government.

But Muhyiddin’s willingness to work with his former party, the United Malays National Organisation (Umno), led to concerns that few of Malaysia’s political elite were willing to clean up corruption, and that this would herald the return of politicians who are currently facing charges of corruption and abuse of power.

Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin delivers a speech to the nation on Monday night. Photo: DPA

Najib is currently on trial on multiple corruption and money laundering charges involving the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) fund. He made the comments outside the High Court before proceedings resumed on Tuesday.

He also posted a picture on social media on Sunday of himself smiling and giving a thumbs-up. It was tagged as a gesture of satisfaction with a restaurant meal, but many Malaysians saw it as a bigger sign of happiness that the return of his party would affect the handling of high-profile trials.