Najib says his dream is of a fair, more equal society

 

Najib Razak visiting single mother Siti Azizon Mohamad, a lance corporal in the armed forces. He wrote of her financial difficulties with caring for her family. (Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA: Najib Razak hopes Malaysians will remember him for his efforts to reduce the country’s income gap and create a fairer society.

Asked to comment on how he would like to be remembered, the country’s sixth prime minister also wanted to be seen as having strengthened the country’s finances and having provided better transport links.

“We must take care of the rakyat’s welfare ,” he said during an interview with Astro Awani aired last night. “Apart from that, I didn’t want the income gap to be too wide between the rich and poor. I wanted a fair society and one that was more equal. That was my dream actually.”

As head of Barisan Nasional and Umno, Najib served as prime minister from 2009 until BN was defeated by Pakatan Harapan at the 2018 general election. Before his fall, he was accused of massive corruption over the 1MDB financial scandal and was later convicted on seven counts of corruption over RM42 million in funds belonging to a former 1MDB subsidiary.

In his interview, Najib said he wanted the rakyat to think of the National Transformation Policy as the highlight of his nine years in power, a set of initiatives he introduced in 2010 aimed at making the country a high-income nation by 2020.

“I want the rakyat to see that in my nine years as PM, the National Transformation Policy that I brought, has resulted in changes.. Not normal changes but structural changes in our country,” he said.

“In terms of the country’s finances.. Stronger. I reorganised public transport and in terms of connectivity, it can be felt by all the rakyat in all the states. Like implementing the Pan Borneo Highway in Sabah and Sarawak.

“I have done a lot of things and my goal was to ensure that Malaysia can be a high-income, advanced economy,” said Najib, who was prime minister and finance minister. - FMT