It’s a shame that the first mention of Malaysia to the world today associates us with 1MDB, rather than our breath-taking scenery, multi-cultural backgrounds, and delicious food.
What’s more, our Prime Minister is affiliated with said fiasco. So naturally, it’s considered an embarrassment for Malaysia, right? The former deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin might just have the answer to that question.
Recently, Muhyiddin has revealed that Najib’s portrait had to be taken down because it was deemed as an embarrassment for Malaysia. Muhyiddin had said this statement in a video uploaded by Malaysiakini.
According to Muhyiddin, he was invited to the opening of the Malaysia Pavilion in Milan World Expo a year ago. At the pavilion, the portrait of Najib Razak was put up on the wall because he is the prime minister of Malaysia.
However, an officer on site told Muhyiddin that visitors from around the world had stopped and looked at Najib’s portrait when they were browsing through the gallery. It seemed that they paid special interest to Najib’s portrait.
“‘Eh, I know the person in this portrait,’ they would say.”
“It was said that the biggest thief in stealing the country’s money is Dato Seri Najib Razak,” said Muhyiddin.
Muhyiddin also said that the on-duty officer at the pavilion felt embarrassed because of this.
“Every time someone passed by the portrait, they would bring up the issues because the whole world recognised Najib’s face,” said Muhyidin. You know I know lah which issue…
“He (the officer) had to take down the portrait to prevent people from leaving bad comment about Malaysia because our prime minister was humiliated in such a way,” said Muhyiddin.
This is not the first time something was done onto Najib’s picture. Remember that time when Najib’s photo was purposely cropped out by a Bruneian newspaper?
Read more: Najib Razak Was Cropped Out Of APEC Meeting Picture By Bruneian Paper