Mohd Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak (born July 23, 1953) is the sixth and current Prime Minister of Malaysia. He previously held the post of Deputy Prime Minister from January 7, 2004 until he succeeded Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as Prime Minister on April 3, 2009. Najib is a member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), and is currently the President of UMNO. He is also the son of Malaysia's second prime minister, Tun Abdul Razak.
Personal life
Najib is the eldest of Abdul Razak's six sons (the other five being Nizam, Nazim, Nazir, Nazri Aziz and Johari). His younger brother, Nazir Abdul Razak, runs the country's second-largest lender, Bumiputera-Commerce Holdings Bhd. Being the son of the second Prime Minister of Malaysia, and a nephew of Hussein Onn, the third Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib is regarded by Malaysians as a political blue blood. He was first married to Tengku Puteri Zainah Tengku Eskandar; but is currently married to Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor. He has three sons (Nizar, Nazifuddin and Norashman) and two daughters (Puteri Norlisa and Nooryana Najwa).
Najib was born in in Kuala Lipis, Pahang, and he received his primary and secondary education at St. John's Institution, Kuala Lumpur. He later attended Malvern College in Worcestershire, England, and subsequently attended the University of Nottingham, where he received a bachelor's degree in industrial economics in 1974.
Najib holds the title of Orang Kaya Inderapura Shahbandar of Pahang Darul Makmur.
Political career
UMNO
As a candidate for UMNO, Najib was first elected to the Dewan Rakyat in 1976, representing the parliamentary constituency of Pekan in an uncontested election after the death of his father. At the age of 23, Najib was also the youngest member of parliament to be elected.
Within the ranks of UMNO, Najib was first appointed as the head of UMNO Youth's Pekan branch and as a member of UMNO Youth's Executive Council (Exco) in 1976. Beginning 1981, he was selected as a member of UMNO's Supreme Council, before winning the post of vice president of UMNO Youth in 1982, succeeding Mokhtar Hashim following his decision to vacate the post.
In 1987, Najib was announced as the Acting Leader of Movement of UMNO Youth by Anwar Ibrahim after Anwar was asked to contest for the post of Vice President of UMNO. Following the complete reorganisation and founding of the "New" UMNO by Mahathir Mohamad in the aftermath of the 1988 Malaysian constitutional crisis, Najib was appointed president of UMNO Youth in 1988.
By 1993, Najib was elected as one of six vice presidents of UMNO in response to Anwar's decision to contest as the deputy president of UMNO. Najib continued to defend his post in party elections held in 1993, 1996 and 2000.
On March 26 2009, Najib won the UMNO presidency unopposed. UMNO permanent chairman Onn Ismail made the declaration at the outset of the 2009 UMNO General Assembly at the Dewan Merdeka, Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC).
Cabinet member
Early career in Cabinet
Throughout his political career, Najib held a variety of ministerial portfolios (the first at the age of 32), culminating in the post of Minister of Defense before being chosen as the Deputy Prime Minister by Abdullah Badawi. Najib was first assigned into the Cabinet of Malaysia at the age of 25 when he was appointed Deputy Minister of Energy, Telecommunications and Post in 1978, becoming the youngest deputy minister in the country.
Najib would go on to assume myriad posts in the Cabinet, including the Deputy Minister of Education, the Deputy Minister of Finance, the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports (and its split successor, the Minister of Youth and Sports), the Minister of Education, the Minister of Defense, and the Minister of Finance beginning September 17, 2008.
Minister of Defense
The National Service
The Malaysian National Service, the creative brainchild of Najib Razak, has been beset by problems since its inception.As of May 2008, there have unfortunately been 16 deaths in the Malaysian National Service.Earlier in 2007, when queried by the press on these deaths, Najib was quoted as saying that the 14 children have died at their homes during NS holidays except for 2 who died from drowning, in an attempt to placate worried Malaysian parents. When recently pressured by more calls to suspend the program due to the deaths, Najib responded that it was not feasible to stop the program since the benefits of the program outweighs the disadvantages. It was reported that nine out of 89 camps in Malaysia will be closed in 2009 after these camps were found to have failed hygiene standards and the camp infrastructure was not properly maintained.
Eurocopter deal
Malaysia Today posted an article entitled "Eurocopter" featuring a letter purportedly from a businessman Datuk Zahar Hashim, the chairman of Mentari Services Sdn Bhd, the local representatives for a Russian helicopter, who lost his bid through international tender with a series of allegations. The letter alleges irregularities in the recent award to Eurocopter for the supply of 12 new aircraft to replace the ageing Sikorsky S-61A-4 "Nuri" fleet of the Royal Malaysian Air Force. The letter claims the award was given to Eurocopter even though it was the most expensive of all the companies which submitted tenders. It was claimed that Eurocopter's bid was more than RM1.4 billion over that of the lowest bidder and that there was no proper evaluation done by the Defense Ministry. A purported Letter of Intent was signed by a mid-ranking officer in the ministry (which was later exposed as unfounded) just two days before Najib switched portfolios and moved from the Defense Ministry to the Finance Ministry. Datuk Zahar has since faced a tribunal of judges and was expelled form his party UMNO. He has since joined the Pan Islamic Party (PAS). He is now under investigation for misappropriation and abuse of party funds when he was in UMNO. Among the allegations was that he registered the party building wih party funds under his personal name.
On 24 October 2008, the opposition Pakatan Rakyat Youth wings lodged a report at the Anti-Corruption Agency against Najib Razak for alleged involvement in the RM2.3 billion Eurocopter helicopter deal. They submitted alleged evidence which showed that Malaysia was reported to have signed a letter of intent to acquire 12 Eurocopter EC 727 Cougar helicopters for a sum of RM2.3 billion while Brazil paid US$1.2 billion for 50 units of the same model which was found to be of a much lower specificationsThe Secretary General of the Ministry of Defence, Datuk Abu Bakar Abdullah, stated that the price offered by Eurocopter in the tender to replace the Nuri aircraft was through an international open tender which opened on November 7, 2007.
Scorpene Submarines and Sukhoi Fighters
The second controversial purchase brokered by Najib was the purchase of Sukhoi fighter planes. The deal, worth US$900 million (RM3.2 billion), was through a Russian state company, Federal State Unitary Enterprise 'Rosoboronexport' on May 19, 2003. A company called IMT Defence Sdn. Bhd. was appointed the local agent for the Russian company and received 12 percent of the purchase price, US$108 million (RM380 million). The principal figure and chairman of IMT Defence is Mohamad Adib Adam, the former chief minister of Malacca, the previous Land and Development Minister and a longtime UMNO stalwart. The involvement of IMT Defence only became known because in March 2005, a former director of IMT, Mohamad Zainuri Mohamad Idrus, filed suit against several Adib-related companies, alleging that Adib and his sister, Askiah Adam wanted to prevent him from exposing the Sukhoi deal. In 2006, Mohamad Zainuri lodged a police report alleging that Adib had stolen the US$108 million commission that was supposed to be channeled to the company while Najib was the Defence Minister.
The Malaysian opposition has also accused Najib of involvement in the alleged payment of large commissions to close associates for the purchases of two Scorpene submarines and 18 Sukhoi fighter jets. Sekretariat Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM) recently lodged a police report with allegations tying Najib Razak for corruption and the ongoing trial of Razak Baginda of the murder of Altantuya, who were one of the alleged beneficiaries of the large commissions.
Patrol Boats
In late 2007, Malaysia's Auditor General tabled a report in Parliament alleging that a contract to build naval vessels given to PSC-Naval Dockyard, a subsidiary of Penang Shipbuilding & Construction Sdn Bhd, owned by an UMNO crony, Amin Shah Omar Shah was in serious trouble. PSC-Naval Dockyard was contracted to deliver six patrol boats for the Malaysian Navy in 2004 and complete the delivery by last April 2008. Those were supposed to be the first of 27 offshore vessels ultimately to cost RM24 billion plus the right to maintain and repair all of the country's naval craft. But only two of the barely operational patrol boats had been delivered by middle of 2006. There were 298 recorded complaints about the two boats, which were also found to have 100 and 383 uncompleted items aboard them respectively. The original RM5.35 billion contract ballooned to RM6.75 billion by January 2007. The auditor also reported that the ministry had paid out RM4.26 billion to PSC up to December 2006 although only RM2.87 billion of work had been done, an overpayment of RM1.39 billion, or 48 percent. In addition, Malaysia's cabinet waived late penalties of RM214 million. Between December 1999, according to the Auditor General, 14 progressive payments amounting to RM943 million despite the fact that the auditor general could find no payment vouchers or relevant documents dealing with the payments. The auditor general attributed the failure to serious financial mismanagement and technical incompetence stemming from the fact that PSC had never built anything but trawlers or police boats before being given the contract by Najib and the Ministry of Defense.
Succession Issues
In many of the controversies about him, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi identified Deputy Prime Minister Dato' Seri Mohd Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak on 6 April 2008 as his probable successor in line with the ruling party's tradition of political succession. . Even former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad predicted that Badawi will never allow Razak to take over as Prime Minister. He said that although Badawi promises that Razak would succeed him by 2010, allegations would be hurled against the deputy prime minister before then to show up his inability to take over. Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) report was lodged by veteran Umno member Mazlan Harun, whose father was imprisoned for 10 years for corruption by Najib's maternal uncle Prime Minister Tun Hussein, in August against Najib Razak and Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi for alleged abuse of power. Mazlan had said the report was based on a letter written by then Petaling Jaya Selatan Umno division head Kapt (R) Datuk Zahar Hashim who wasn't chosen as candidate for the last general elections which accused the two of "political corruption of the highest order." Ironically, both Mazlan and Zahar has been convicted before for corruption and wealth obtained by unexplained means. In the letter addressed to the Umno secretary-general, Zahar said the two top leaders had been campaigning to defend their positions despite asking others not to do the same, adding their actions had violated guidelines issued by party headquarters.On 8 October, 2008 Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi announced he would step down at last in March 2009 paving the way for Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak to succeed him. However he said the onus was on Najib to win party elections set for March before he could take over. Najib went on to win without the Prime Minister post.
Criticism
The former de facto law minister Zaid Ibrahim has urged the Yang di-Pertuan Agong not appoint Najib as Prime Minister of Malaysia, and instead appoint someone else from UMNO. He pointed out Najib has been linked on the internet and by political rivals to the brutal murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu. Zaid also cited the RM400 million in commissions reportedly paid by the Defence Ministry while Najib was minister for the procurement of submarines, and pointed out that Abdul Razak Baginda, Najib's friend, was an agent in the deal. This was after Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the former Prime Minister also said that Najib did not shine as a deputy prime minister and stated that Najib carried a lot of baggage into the Prime Minister's job.UMNO statesman Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah stated that as the PM-in waiting Najib should take the witness stand to clear his name or take legal action against the growing number of foreign publications linking him with the murder of Altantuya Shariibuu and the purchase of submarines.
Prime Minister
Najib became the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia on 26 March 2009. His cabinet has 28 members, which is slightly smaller than his predecessor's 32 member cabinet. He also introduced a 1Malaysia concept when he was sworn in as Prime Minister, with the slogan People First, Performance Now. Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has expressed disappointment that Datuk Seri Najib Razaks Cabinet appointments include several unsavoury characters, which negated any desire to rid Umno of blatantly corrupt politicians.
Mahathir continued his criticisms of Najib by pointing out Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz as one of the ministers he thinks should not have been appointed into Datuk Seri Najib Razaks Cabinet. He mentioned that Datuk Johari Baharum as someone he thought should not have been made a deputy minister. Mohamed Nazri has defended his appointment by Najib by calling Mahathir childish and lame for saying he is among those whom the former prime minister thought was unfit to be a minister.
