Najib crowned Champion of Doubletalk by top US paper despite splurging millions on 'image'

What a deafening silence from Prime Minister Najib Razak! While the world shook its head over the FBC Media scandal, where his administration used Malaysian tax-payers money to ‘buy’ favorable mentions on international prime-time television, Najib is no where to be heard or seen. It could be he is hiding his head in shame but given his past record, the Malaysian PM doesn't feel remorse or guilt easily.

In a statement posted on the BBC website, the broadcaster said the “small number” of programmes that were aired on BBC World News between Feb 2009 and July 2011, broke the internal rules aimed at protecting its editorial integrity.

“These rules ensure that programmes are free, and are seen to be free, from commercial or other outside pressures,” read the statement.

Financial relationship

Although the nature of the programmes related to Malaysia were mentioned without much details, the BBC made it clear that 8 of these appeared to have a' financial relationship' with the Malaysian government.

After much public tongue-lashing from the opposition, Najib finally admitted to Parliament that it had paid RM84 million to FBC Media between 2007 and 2010 for ‘consultancy services, advice and management of a communication campaign’ to spruce up Malaysia’s image. Apart from painting a falsely flattering image image of himself, the documentaries also painted a rosy picture of Malaysia's oil palm industry and its treatment of indigenous peoples - which are in stark contract to the views from the ground.

British daily The Independent, the newspaper that broke the scandal, reported that the BBC would be apologizing to an estimated 74 million people globally over the matter. The report said viewers from “Kuala Lumpur to Khartoum” will be able to watch the broadcast which is available to 295 million homes, 1.7 million hotel rooms, 81 cruise ships, 46 airlines and 35 mobile phone platforms, at four different time zones. According to the BBC statement, the BBC Trust’s editorial standards committee had identified various breaches in editorial guidelines due to the errant programmes.

“It agreed that given the serious nature of the breaches an on-air apology to the audience was appropriate,” read the statement.

But not a word from Najib or his team. Such a public roasting, and yet Utusan, Star and all its media organs carried not a word on the matter.

Correct to demand an apology

So when Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng demanded an apology from the Prime Minister, he was cheered on by the public even though they Najib would pretend to ignore the entire incident or condemn it as being as "opposition-instigated" demand. But did Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim's Pakatan Rakyat pay RM84 million to the UK publicity firm? Who was it who instructed FBC to polish Najib's image, give an overly glowing report about the benefits of consuming palm oil, and praise the BN's handling of indigenous people?

“Datuk Seri Najib Razak should direct his Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to apologise for paying RM84 million to burnish the Najib administration’s image... just as the BBC is apologising for accepting payments in exchange for a positive image for countries with a poor record of democratic practices and corruption,” Guan Eng wrote in a statement.

However, in a sad reflection of his caliber, Najib has chosen to hide his head in the sand.

The same goes for the UMNO-BN government he leads. They all seem content to stick their heads in the sand and wait for the whole matter to blow away. Who then apart from the opposition will keep an eye out for the Malaysian people? Will MCA ask Najib about the RM84 million sloshed down the drain? Will Gerakan, or the MIC? How about Umno?

Yet, it is more than just another embarrassing moment for Malaysia and one which Najib should apologize for. That is the minimum to restore some degree of the global esteem lost through the ill-judged and unethical act of paying a mercenary media firm to basically plant false news and disseminate it to an unsuspecting audience.

There was also APCO, Mr Cool and Ah Jib Gor ...

No doubt, following the FBC expose, Putrajaya ended its RM96 million contract with FBC, which Najib began in 2009. But FBC is not the only media scandal. In his vanity and thirst to be larger than life, Najib had signed on other public relation strategists including the Zionist-backed APCO Worldwide to polish his personal image.

Given his attack against arch rival Anwar Ibrahim for supporting a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine, such an appointment is hypocritical to say the least, especially since Najib even gave APCO staff access to key communications facilities in the country. It is well-know that many of the top staff at APCO are former high-level officers at Shin Bet and Mossad, the Israeli secret services. What an awful joke and when Anwar, DAP chairman Karpal Singh, PKR leaders Azmin Ali and Sivarasa Rasiah took issue on the matter, fearing breach of national security, Najib had them suspended and locked out of Parliament for 6 months!

Indeed, APCO’s time in Malaysia was marked by controversy. So too was the most recent hire of a team purportedly comprising ex-staff of former British PM Tony Blair’s “New Labour” campaign. This group was tasked to turn Najib into a 'Mr Cool' and to reinvent him as a moderate reformist. Once the news leaked, it was clear Najib had bungled again, losing millions of public money. Malaysian either laughed or disapproved at the 'nonsense' he was dishing out. Even his 'Ah Jib Gor' Facebook website has failed miserably. Aimed to attract the Chinese, it has been taunted as being silly, in bad taste, and a desperate political move.

And the result - Najib crowned Champion of Doubletalk

Proof that Najib's exorbitant media scams are not working and instead backfiring comes in the form of a stinging rebuke from the highly influential Washington post editorial, which describes Najib's government as the "champion of doubletalk". Mind you, even President Obama and Hillary Clinton read the Washington Post. 

"His persecution has been facilitated by another champion of double-talk, the government of Malaysia, which claims to respect the rule of law but bundled Mr Kashgari onto a private Saudi jet Sunday in spite of a court order prohibiting his deportation," said the Washington Post.

The Post was referring to Saudi journalist Hamza Kashgari whom Najib's cousin and Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein illegally deported to face near certain death in his own country over several tweets the Saudi authorities deemed blasphemous. As human rights activists the world over have warned, if Hamza is executed, there will be blood on Najib's hand. 

So enough of the doublespeak. The game is up. You have been rumbled. Own up and apologize. Najib owes Malaysia an apology over the media scandals he created in his vanity, and for wasting the people's money so foolishly and flagrantly.

Malaysia Chronicle