He is facing trial for the biggest corruption case in Malaysia’s history but former prime minister Najib Razak appears to have found an outlet to ease the pressure: song.
Hiring out a recording studio, and recruiting a young choir of back-up singers, Najib has recorded a version of the 1970s hit soul ballad by The Manhattans, Kiss and Say Goodbye, translating the lyrics into Malay and adapting them in a bid to redeem his reputation among Malaysians.
In it, he laments losing the election in May, mocks the new government and professes his innocence over the corruption charges against him, claiming he has been the victim of an “agenda of revenge and slander”.
As a opener, Najib reads out his own sorrowful take on the song’s recognisable introduction, saying that “this has got to be the saddest day of my life. Since May 9, 2018, I was ousted. All this while, I have been fighting for the people who I really love. But what can I do. I was abused by Pakatan Harapan with their agenda of revenge and slander. But I surrender to God to be given the strength to reorganise Barisan.”
He and his band of singers then launch into the Malay version of the soul track, with lyrics such as “hopes as high as mountains but crushed to become dust, I believed in you, all your promises”, a line directly targeted at the Pakatan Harapan government which won a landslide election victory in May, led by 93-year-old Mahathir Mohamad.
Since he was toppled, Najib’s fall from grace has been inimitable. The song’s release comes less than a month before Najib is due to stand trial on dozens of charges of corruption, money laundering, corruption and abuse of power relating to his alleged role in the 1MDB scandal, in which billions of dollars was stolen from a government fund and dispersed around the world. Najib is accused of using his position as prime minister to profit from the stolen funds, with $681m allegedly ending up in his personal bank account, and then covering it up. If convicted on all charges, he could face a sentence lasting more than 200 years.
Najib has consistently professed his innocence and his upcoming trial is the subject of great anticipation in Malaysia.
Najib is not the only south-east Asian leader who has taken to song as a way to reach out to the people. Thai prime minister, and head of the military government, Prayut chan-Ocha also has a sideline in pop music, with his debut single, Return to Happiness in Thailand, released after the military took over in a 2014 coup. Prayut subsequently recorded several other tracks about Thailand, including Bridge, Because You Are Thailand and Hope and Faith.
