THE headquarters of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a party founded to defend the interests of Malays, Malaysia’s biggest ethnic group, feels stuck in the past. Defeated sofas and tired photographs speak to glory days now gone. In the lobby is a collage of pictures of the great and good of the party, which had run the country for 60 years before losing an election last month. A baby-faced Najib Razak, the prime minister ousted just a few weeks ago, appears close to Mahathir Mohamad, his successor. But although Dr Mahathir once ran Malaysia as the leader of UMNO, these days he relies on the backing of a coalition of UMNO’s adversaries, known as Pakatan Harapan (PH).
Times have changed, in other words. The same police who used to bully the luminaries of PH are now concentrating their attention on Mr Najib. Raids on his properties have yielded jewellery, cash and 284 boxes of handbags, all impounded as evidence in an investigation into alleged embezzlement. Mr Najib himself has been...Continue reading
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