Day Two - A Big Bang

And on the first day of his rule, Mr. Najib did the unexpected.

Part of the unease surrounding Mr. Najib's accession into Malayia's highest office was that he was perceived to be cut from the same cloth as his chief backer - Dr. Mahathir. There was genuine fear that the nascent freedom and openess that characterized his predecessor, Mr. Abdullah's rule, would be replaced by a tyranical clamp down associated with the 22 year reign of Dr. Mahatir.

So when the Malaysian population tuned in to watch Mr. Najib's inaugral address to the nation, even his worst critics were stunned when Mr. Najib announced the immediate release of 13 prisoners being held under the draconian Internal Security Act as well as a review of the said act.

The Opposition claims that this was done with one eye cast at the upcoming by-election. Included amongst the prisoner release, was 2 ethnic Indians, who were leaders of the Hindraf movement, a movement that had only 2 years ago brought Malaysia to a standstill when over 50,000 ethnic Indians poured into the streets of Kuala Lumpur, carrying pictures of Her Majesty the Queen, and demanding $1 trillion US dollars from the British Government as compensation for their forecable removal from mother India and reloaction to the jungles of Malaya. This movement , as disorganized and rambunctious as they were, still caught the imagination of the ethnic Indian community in Malaysia, and their discontentment seized by Mr. Anwar's Opposition Alliance to great effect in the Elections of 2008.



Mr. Najib started his first day as Prime Minister by announcing the release of 13 detainees held under the Internal Security Act that allows for detention without trial. Amongst those released were 2 members of the ethnic Indian group, Hindraf, whom the Government accused of being linked to the LTTE of Sri Lanka.

Mr. Najib's UMNO credentials were further strengthened today when ex-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad rejoined UMNO, having left the party he helped found under a cloud due to an ugly spat with Mr. Najib's predecessor, Prime Minister Abudllah Badawi. Dr. Mahathir is believed to still command wide support amongst the Malay massess. In fact as proof Dr. Mahathir's support within UMNO, it is accepted that his incessant and vitriolic attack directed at Mr. Abdullah and his advisors, hastened Mr. Abdullah's exit from the position of leadership within UMNO and with that the post of Prime Minister.

Indeed the culmination of Mr. Najib's first 24 hours in power has seen him win friends amongst 2 ethnic communities, the Malays and the Indians, who increasingly find it difficult to agree on almost anything.

Day One - Inaugration

Today Najib Tun Razak became Malaysia's sixth Prime Minister. It was a simple yet significant ceremony conducted in the palace of the reigning monarch, when Mr. Najib took the oath of office in front of the Malaysian King.

He steps into this office with baggage unheard of for any elected official in the Western world. Allegations of corruption are the staple fare here in Malaysia, where the politics of business takes the saying 'its not what you know, its who you know,' to a whole different level.

But Mr. Najib has more that just the average multi billion dollar corruption scandals hanging over his head. He name has been constantly dragged into an on going trial involving the murder of a lady companion of one of his closest allies. When one also takes into account that the 2 people accused of the heinous crime are in fact Government commandos, one would be interested to know whether the Royal Malaysian Police ever did consider Mr. Najib a 'person of interest' in this investigation.

The answer is no. This is Malaysia.

But Mr. Najib has not been lying low. In the week leading up to this historic day in his life, he has been busy working the Public Relations machine into an overdrive. The papers are full of his visits to the ethnic Chinese owned businesses, or more succiently referred to as the 'foreign race' by one of Malaysias longest serving Prime Minister - Dr. Mahathir.

Mr. Najib also does not get to enjoy the customary honeymoon period Gordon Brown had when he took over from Tony Blair.

In 72 hours time, the ruling coalition spearheaded by Mr. Najib's far-right party, UMNO, will be facing a triple by-election in northern Peninsular Malaysia as well as in the state of Sarawak, located in the Malaysian ruled part of Borneo. By elections used to be timid affairs in this country, punctuated by the clownish antics of Government Ministers approving development projects, colloquially known as instant noodle projects, in a very thinly veiled attempt at demonstrating the Barisan Nasional's brand of development politics.

But not anymore.

Since the historic General Election of 2008, Malaysia's Parliament is now split with 133 Government backbenchers facing down 82 Opposition lawmakers. Never before has the Parliament bore witness to this. In the 2 intertwining by elections that followed, the ruling coaltion was crushed, even though vast amounts of money, with some estimates to be in excess of £80 million, and the entire Government machinery had been dedicated to ensuring UMNO's victory.

As Mr. Najib's succession was never determined in a popular vote, instead having been decided by UMNO, this by election represents the first evidence of what the Malaysian people think of their new Prime Minister.

Mr. Najib, being the cautious politician he is, had been busy trying to downplay these elections as a referendum of sorts on his succession as Prime Minister. Whilst he is busy extorting the virtues of racial harmony and good governance, the campaign waged by the UMNO party that is currently on the way in the rural constituents of Bukit Gantang and Bukit Selambau is all about the race.

And this renewed racial posturing is best exemplefied by one of Mr. Najib's chief backers - the ex-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad. The majority Malay Bumiputera race has been cajoled and whipped into a frenzy by Dr. Mahathir's constant race baiting of ethnic minorities, accusing them of 'back stabbing' the Malay community through their 'demands for racial equality.'

In 3 days time, the electorate will decide whether Mr. Najib is genuinely willing to push through reforms or merely paying lip-service to his call for 'One Malaysia' .

The author is still unaware whether Prime Minister Gordon Brown would be extending the usual congraluatory message to Mr. Najib.