Malaysia’s reformist government has not put an end to sleaze

TO SEE HOW topsy-turvy Malaysian politics have grown, consider the case of the previous prime minister, Najib Razak. In 2018 the party he led lost power for the first time since independence. Mainly to blame were allegations of massive graft against Mr Najib, who denied wrongdoing but admitted that almost $700m had found its way into his bank accounts. Soon after he left office, police seized a thumping haul of bling belonging to his wife, Rosmah Mansor, who also denies any crime. It included 567 handbags, 423 watches and 14 tiaras.

Mr Najib faces more than 40 charges of corruption and abuse of power, but his star is rising again. His chutzpah has made him an unlikely hit with the country’s moped gangs, who have taken to calling him bossku (“my boss”). With deft use of social media, Mr Najib has reinvented himself as a man of the people. He paints himself as the victim of a show trial. This week the 94-year-old who replaced him as prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, who was once Mr Najib’s mentor, expressed bafflement that “people are kissing the hands of thieves and calling them bossku.”

The reinvention of Mr Najib is unlikely to go so far as to return him to the centre of politics, even if he manages to escape imprisonment. Apart from anything, Ms Rosmah is too widely...

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