Yes-men who played out ‘nice guy’ Najib by hiding the truth

 

Barisan Nasional leader Najib Razak was fed a positive picture although voters were increasingly restive, a former aide writes. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: Those close to Najib Razak withheld information from him about the true feelings of the people on the ground, a factor that led to Barisan Nasional’s upset loss at the 14th general election in 2018, according to a former aide.

Najib’s former communications consultant Romen Bose writes in a forthcoming book that Najib was only shown positive coverage and information, which left him oblivious to the growing dissatisfaction among the public.

“Najib was often not provided with accurate information and intelligence. The Special Affairs Department, Special Branch and some Umno leaders did not provide the unvarnished truth. Najib was hampered by many yes-men who surrounded him, who were loyal but hid the actual ground sentiments.

“As a leader, he relied on these people to provide accurate feedback, but the reality was that they only provided positive feedback,” Bose writes in his book Final Reckoning: An Insider’s View of the Fall of Malaysia’s Barisan Nasional Government.

Romen Bose.

Bose said he regularly tried to present Najib with surveys and analysis that painted a more accurate picture, but the legitimacy of these negative assessments would immediately be questioned as they contradicted all the good news he was receiving elsewhere.

“This proved to be the case on 9 May 2018 (election day), where even up until 7pm party leaders were still feeding Najib with positive reports even though it did not reflect the ground at all.”

The ‘nice guy’ who was exploited by others

Many in the prime minister’s office also took advantage of Najib’s good nature and went against his wishes knowing he would not choose to fire them, which frequently put Najib in difficult positions cleaning up the mess of others, Bose writes.

“Najib had always been a gentleman and he did not believe in underhanded tactics. He often disagreed with any attacks on his political opponents, preferring to deal with facts and figures to rebut allegations rather than damaging a person’s reputation.”

Despite this, several officers took matters into their own hands to attack members of the opposition who had trained their guns on the prime minister.

“It was the actions of several officers unbeknown to Najib, who used his name with impunity, that resulted in some very sorry episodes and attacks on opposition leaders and activists.

“When these operations backfired, as they normally did and Najib found out, he was incensed by the actions taken by the responsible staff. He would call them into his office for a severe dressing down but he never took the ultimate decision of firing them.

“His decency meant that several of these officers continued with their own agendas because they realised that the boss could be exploited as he was too nice to remove them from office. They often exploited Najib’s generosity and magnanimous character for their own benefit.” - FMT

Extracts published with permission from Penguin Random House SEA.