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Embattled Najib to critics: You should have spoken up earlier

KUALA LUMPUR — Embattled former Malaysian prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said his critics within the Barisan Nasional (BN) should have spoken up earlier if they thought there was a problem with his leadership of the coalition and government.

Mr Najib Razak was a picture of calm and composure on Saturday (May 19) despite the dramatic change in his fortunes.

Mr Najib Razak was a picture of calm and composure on Saturday (May 19) despite the dramatic change in his fortunes.

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KUALA LUMPUR — Embattled former Malaysian prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said his critics within the Barisan Nasional (BN) should have spoken up earlier if they thought there was a problem with his leadership of the coalition and government.

"As far as I’m concerned, I’ve always practised an open style," Mr Najib said in his first media interview since BN lost the elections on May 9 after a six-decade rule.

He added: "People were free to voice their comments, even difference of opinion. I’m quite open about it, except that I want it to be done in private, because we should not attack each other as members of the government.”

Since the shock election defeat, several leaders from BN and the United Malays National Organisation (Umno), the coalition's lynchpin party, have emerged to criticise Mr Najib.

Umno youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, for instance, said that BN leaders had been “drunk” on hubris after 60 years of uninterrupted power.

He also admitted that no one was willing to “bell the cat” after seeing their then second-in-command, Mr Muhyiddin Yassin, dropped from Cabinet for questioning Mr Najib over the source of 1MDB’s funds and where some 2.6 billion ringgit had gone.

Mr Najib maintained that party members always had the freedom to convey their dissatisfaction or difference in opinion but they must use the “proper channel”.

“So Khairy is free to come and see me and say: ‘Look sir. I think you are not on the right track, or there is some problem, you know, which were not resolved in a proper way.’ Then I could then decide, whether to accept or not to accept," added Mr Najib. “He didn’t do that. I mean, he admitted that he didn’t do that.”

Dressed in a bright yellow polo T-shirt and slacks, the 64-year-old was a picture of calm and composure on Saturday despite the dramatic change in his fortunes. He was barred from leaving the country on May 12, the same day when he resigned from his leadership posts at Umno and BN.

His private home has been placed under 24-hour police surveillance. Since Wednesday, the police have raided six premises around Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya linked to Mr Najib as part of investigations into how billions of dollars disappeared from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a state fund founded by the former prime minister.

Mr Najib said he has never forced his ideals on any BN members, emphasising only the need to follow the party line for discipline’s sake.

“If you attack the leadership openly, that’s against party discipline. But if you come and say: ‘Sir, I disagree with you. I think you should do it this way.’ That is not against party discipline,” he added.

He did not mention names but appeared to allude to his former deputy Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and former Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal. Both senior Umno men have since gone on to found their own political parties, which have been catapulted to power following the historic events of the May 9 elections.

Mr Muhyiddin and Mr Shafie had both spoken out in public against Mr Najib’s handling of 1MDB.

While some BN leaders have distanced themselves from Mr Najib, he continued to receive visitors at his heavily guarded private residence at Jalan Langgak Duta. Some of his notable visitors on Saturday were Malacca Umno veterans like Tan Sri Mohd Ali Rustam, Selangor Umno chief Tan Sri Noh Omar and Umno supreme council member Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri. MALAY MAIL

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