Pickleball and padel are the rage these days. Depending on whom you ask, it’s the new “Tinder” where singles meet and chat-up each other or a status flex (or a good workout). Indoor and outdoor courts are noticeably mushrooming. It’s the new social buzz. I’ll never get the hype, though. I’m a simple man: give me tennis or its table variant.
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Najib Razak is the gift that keeps on giving, with three developments over the past few weeks related to the convicted former PM.
There was Shazalli Ramly’s appointment as PM Anwar Ibrahim’s media and strategic communications chief. Shazalli was Najib’s branding guru.
There was Nooryana Najwa Najib’s appointment to the board of national promotional agency Matrade. Nooryana is Najib’s daughter.
These events happened smack on the very week Anwar tabled Belanjawan 2025 (or the federal budget).
And, there was the non-apology penned by the convicted former PM on Thursday over the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal, which happened under his watch.
Najib’s gameplan is obvious: he wants to quickly get out of prison. Twenty-six months (so far) is too much for him.
But the wide berth we give him, his family, his children and his former lieutenants today is symptomatic of the elite politicking that have come to define Malaysia’s socio political and corporate spheres.
“It’s cult-like,” a corporate veteran tells me, “and it’s very obvious Najib is seeking to further entrench himself in Malaysia’s institutions.”
And this phenomenon is reaching its nadir under Anwar’s administration.
So here are some lessons about how the political elite go about their business, from peddling ideologies to relying on unpredictable financiers.