Najib Tun Razak

Another slow day, so let’s view an old interview of our current PM Najib Tun Razak.

It was a Bloomberg TV’s 30-minute programme, “Bloomberg Voices”, aired on 24/10/2008 of then DPM.

Part 1

Dato’ Seri Mohd. Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak (born July 23, 1953) is the sixth and current Prime Minister of Malaysia. He previously held the post of Deputy Prime Minister from January 7, 2004 until he succeeded Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as Prime Minister on April 3, 2009.

Najib is a member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), and is currently the President of UMNO. He is also the son of Malaysia’s second prime minister, Tun Abdul Razak.

Part 2

Najib became the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia on 3 April 2009. His cabinet has 28 members, which is slightly smaller than his predecessor’s 32 member cabinet. First 100 Days Najib entered office with a clear focus on domestic economic issues and long-standing political reform questions.

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad has expressed disappointment that Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Cabinet appointments include several unsavoury characters, which negated any desire to rid Umno of blatantly corrupt politicians

Part 3

Over a period of two decades, Najib has become the subject of two principal types of controversies. First, he has been criticized for alleged (and disputed) statements involving promoting Malay or Islamic interests over non-Malay and secular ones. Second, he has been accused by opposition leaders, and by journalists and bloggers, of acts of corruption in connection with his term as Defense Minister.

Since 2006 he has also been accused by the opposition of involvement in connection with the death of a Mongolian woman killed by two police officers employed as security personnel for senior Malaysian government officials. Najib has contended that his statements relating to ethnic and religious issues have been exaggerated or taken out of context.

He has denied all of the corruption allegations, describing them as fabrications by opposition forces. He has vehemently denied having any contact with the Mongolian woman, and denied opposition allegations that he undertook any action to influence the investigations following her death.