Follow us on Telegram for the latest updates: https://t.me/mothershipsg

Veteran opposition figure in the Malaysian political scene, Lim Kit Siang, wrote that Malaysia will be "the laughing stock of the world" if their former prime minister Najib Razak becomes the country's 10th prime minister.

Lim's comment was posted on his website on Nov. 24, following Barisan Nasional's victory during the Malacca state election on Nov. 20.

Najib was Malaysia's sixth prime minister from 2009 to 2018, before his ruling Barisan Nasional coalition was toppled by Pakatan Harapan during the 14th General Elections in 2018.

Najib was found guilty of the 1MDB money-laundering scandal and was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment in July 2020.

Malaysia's Court of Appeals has heard Najib's appeal but has yet to come to a decision. 

He is currently out on bail, and has denied all wrongdoing.

Malaysia losing to Indonesia in the fight against corruption

Lim also claimed that Malaysia is losing out to Indonesia in the fight against corruption over the last two decades.

He claimed that Malaysia "is becoming more and more corrupt while Indonesia is becoming less and less corrupt".

The trend, he added, will be confirmed when Transparency International (TI), a global coalition aiming to end corruption, releases its Corruption Perception Index (CPI) in January 2022.

"It will be a double whammy for Malaysia if the 15th General Election is held next year, with Najib returning as the 10th Prime Minister to coincide with the 2021 TI CPI, marking the downward trend for Malaysia in the war against corruption," he wrote.

Covid-19: Indonesia won, Malaysia lost

Other than Malaysia losing to Indonesia in corruption, Lim also opined that that his country was losing on the Covid-19 front.

He claimed that Malaysia is "performing worse" than Indonesia in the war against Covid-19.

Indonesia recorded 394 new Covid-19 cases on Nov. 23, Lim said, and compared to Malaysia with 5,594 cases recorded on the same day.

According to him, this marked the 111th consecutive day since Aug. 18, when Indonesia recorded fewer daily new Covid-19 cases than Malaysia.

It also marked the 50th consecutive day, since Oct. 5, when Indonesia recorded fewer daily Covid-19 deaths compared to Malaysia.

"Are we to lose out to Indonesia in the war against the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as in fighting corruption?" Lim asked.

Follow and listen to our podcast here

Top image via Najib Razak/Facebook and Lim Kit Siang/Facebook