KUALA LUMPUR Aug 26 ― Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is now the “scapegoat” for problems plaguing the country as support from Malaysians and from within Umno wears thin, a Forbes contributor said.

Research fellow at Murdoch University's Executive Education Centre Greg Lopez said Najib has the backing of the Barisan Nasional (BN) leadership and the Cabinet, but not much beyond that small circle, especially after the revelation of RM2.6 billion being transferred to the prime minister’s personal account that Umno leaders and anti-graft authorities described as a donation from Middle Eastern donors.

“He is now being made the scapegoat for the Barisan Nasional‘s, the Umno‘s and the country’s poor performance. All calamities befalling Malaysia and Malaysians are now being placed at his feet,” Lopez said in an article in Forbes magazine titled “The Unfortunate Case of Malaysia’s Prime Minister” published yesterday.

He added that former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad managed to evade blame back during the Asian Financial Crisis by blaming “external forces,” something Najib cannot do this time around amid a faltering economy and the ringgit plunge to 1998 levels, resulting in his having to shoulder all the blame.

“During the East Asian Financial Crisis of 1997/98, then Malaysian prime minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad (Tun Mahathir) managed to successfully pin the blame for Malaysia’s economic woes on the Jews. 

“Najib Razak is attempting to do the same, but does not have the required conditions that favoured prime minister Tun Mahathir. There is no crisis that he can appeal too. There is/are no external force/s that he can pin the blame on,” he added.

Lopez also said that Najib has become a “curse” and a “plague” to BN and Umno as evidenced by him being “hounded” by the very people who put him in power.

“The son of the architect of  the New Economic Policy and Umno thoroughbred, Najib Razak once glorified, is now hounded by the very people who made him the king of the hill,” he said.

Lopez also alluded to this weekend’s Bersih 4 rally as a factor that could make or break Najib, saying: “Will Najib Razak survive the weekend? Stay tuned”.

Bersih 2.0’s latest rally will be held this weekend simultaneously in Kuala Lumpur, Kuching in Sarawak, Kota Kinabalu in Sabah, and several other cities across the globe.

The objective of the demonstration is to press for institutional reforms and to demand Najib’s resignation over his handling of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad controversy.