"Old rock star" indeed: Najib fails to see yellow tees that greet his visit to college

'Full of himself' or 'full of hot gas' are two phrases that have been frequently applied to Prime Minister Najib Razak and today he proved why his critics may be right in saying vanity was his greatest weakness.

At a visit to the Kolej Tuanku Abdul Rahman in a bid to drum up support amongst young Malaysian Chinese, the 58-year-old Najib thanked the college for its red carpet welcome, “which makes me feel like a rock star - an old rock star”.

Perhaps, he should have added the word 'myopic' as well because he did not appear to notice a group of some 50 students who wore yellow to greet him.

Yellow is of course the trademark colour of the Bersih movement that is fighting for clean elections in Malaysia.

"We wanted to give Najib a 'daffodil' welcome," one amongst the group - a first-year student - cheekily said when asked why they did not don the red t-shirts requested by the college administrators.

Cartoon

Indeed, TAR college - which is run by MCA - spared no effort or expense to make Najib feel good. The 'official' crowd that greeted his arrival were mostly dressed in red, which is the college's color.

Banners were hoisted around the campus to welcome him with the words boldly emblazoned -  ‘Ah Jib Gor, you are our INSPIRATION’ and ‘Ah Jib Gor, WE LOVE YOU!!!’.

‘Ah Jib Gor’ refers to a campaign launched last year to revive Najib's sagging popularity amongst the Chinese community.

However, its 'cartoonish' tone has drawn ridicule and Najib's popularity has sunk 4 percentage points to 65% after he ordered a brutal police crackdown on the April 28 Bersih 3.0 rally.

Malaysia Chronicle