Najib is a walking, talking PR disaster

The people want to hear and see leadership from the top leader of the country, and half of that is in the presentation.

COMMENT

It always seems like it’s one step forward and two steps back when it comes to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak. For a politician who supposedly centres his policies and actions around the people, he has, time and again, shown himself to be tone deaf, unable to understand what exactly his people need of him, especially at those crucial times when he should step up and show leadership. Even when he finally deigns to step down from his lofty perch to weigh in on the pressing issues plaguing the country, he appears uncommitted and wishy washy.

Like on Christmas Eve, when he wished “Merry Christmas” to all those who celebrate the occasion. After all the ugly, isolationist rhetoric being spouted off by NGOs and supposed scholars, having the Prime Minister essentially tell them to shove off was a move lauded by many Malaysians, ecstatic over the leadership shown by Najib by merely uttering two simple words heard the world over. But as critics have pointed out, it is not enough.

There’s truth in the criticism. While his taking a stand against the extreme right wing is appreciated, the way he chose to do so was half hearted and would not provoke a discussion or give a solution. He refused to address the issue at heart, which is the encroachment of Malay-Muslim supremacist NGOs into the public sphere and the ever-increasing amount of restrictions they intend to impose on all Malaysians, with no authority, moral or legal, to do so. It is because of this half hearted approach that these NGOs feel that they can run wild and spread their hateful message to all Malaysians without fear of repercussions.

Half hearted has been Najib’s response to the floods in the East Coast of Peninsula Malaysia as well. Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has been at the forefront of efforts to address the disaster, seeming to lead the country in an hour of crisis. In terms of public relations, nothing could be better for the Prime Minister in Waiting. He gives an image of competence and leadership. And where was our actual Prime Minister? Well, thanks to the Washington Post, we know that he was golfing with US President Barack Obama in Hawaii.

Now, there is nothing wrong with playing golf with the President of the United States. That is Najib’s right and prerogative, and even leaders of a country deserve a day off once in a while. But it is his response to the flood disaster that shows him up as tone deaf to the needs of the country, unable to fathom the depths of public relations despite wanting to be seen as a man of the people. Telling the press that you have been on the phone with the Deputy Prime Minister and saying the situation is under control is not showing leadership, and is more of the same half-hearted, wishy washyness that has come to define the political career of one Najib Abdul Razak.

You have to feel some pity for the man’s poor overworked PR team.

Uncomplimentary labels

The people want to hear leadership from the top leader of the country, and half of that is in the presentation. Had Najib told the press that yes, he was in regular contact with Muhyiddin and had instructed his deputy on what further actions were needed, and that he was taking charge of the situation despite being on holiday by giving marching orders to the relevant departments and agencies, he would have looked like the leader that he wants to be seen as. If he had taken charge, or even seemed to do so, he would have won a perception war that now sees him labelled, as usual, as the absent leader, the man of elegant silence.

None of those labels are complimentary, and in all fairness, could be avoided had Najib thought through his actions and what he was going to say before opening his mouth. Indeed, he should by now be wise enough to know when he should open his mouth and when he should shut it.

His elegant silence is infamous for coming at times when elegant discourse is expected. We do want to hear what he has to say about the Allah issue and about seditious remarks uttered by NGOs that seem to pass unremarked by the authorities meant to regulate that kind of speech. His “I help you, you help me” campaign speech is the stuff of local legend, and not the good kind. His “meet the people” visits are highly regulated and controlled, and always in optimal conditions that will not give a complete picture of the situation faced by his people.

When it comes to public relations, Najib just can’t seem to get it right. Stumbling from issue to issue and crisis to crisis doesn’t improve his image in the eyes of the people, and his lack of leadership is a carte blanche for extremists to take over the national conversation on religion, imposing an extreme right-wing world view on everything, it would seem.

Like it or not, the word of a Prime Minister actually means something, and sometimes discretion is not the better part of valour, especially when the Prime Minister has a moral and elected duty to stand up for the people, whether they voted for him or not. To be Prime Minister means to be Prime Minister for all.

There will, of course, be the naysayers, those who say that whatever Najib does, he’s destined to be wrong because of the “agenda” the media hold against him. The say, “If Najib is overseas, they say he doesn’t care about the rakyat. If he goes to the ground to give aid, they say he’s only acting.” This is not about that. This is about Najib’s continual failure to inspire confidence in his leadership, to act when he needs to act, to say what he is needed to say. Najib has been a PR disaster almost since Day One, and this has given his political enemies the ammunition they need to besiege him and drive him out of office.

As we’ve noted before in our columns, Najib wants to be liked. He wants to be popular. But it seems he has no idea how to interact with the public in ways that matter or are meaningful at the times when we most need his leadership. Every crisis becomes a PR nightmare for his administration because he doesn’t know how to respond as a leader should or could. If it is popularity Najib wants, he is his own worst enemy in that regard.