#KemaluanNegara Trends As Najib Was Called a National Embarrassment by Judge Over Corruption Case

By Karissa Lund  •  in News
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(source: NST/ @kuasasiswa TWT)

From “Malu apa, Bossku?” to “national embarrassment” overnight, the infamous ex-PM, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is being dragged through the mud by netizens on social media.

#ICYMI, judge Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil, in delivering the court’s decision yesterday (8 Dec), said Najib did not take any steps to ask what happened to SRC International Sdn Bhd’s RM4 billion loan and whether the money had been properly utilised.

According to FMT, the judge also said the former prime minister did not find out the whereabouts of the money and even ordered then second finance minister Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah to keep off SRC’s matters.

“This is not something that can be said to have been done in the national interest. There is no national interest here, just a national embarrassment,” he said in court.

Since then, that last line by Abdul Karim has given birth to a witty and suggestive social media hashtag: #KemaluanNegara. Besides the hashtag, ‘Najib’ and ‘national embarrassment’ can be seen trending yesterday too.

For those unfamiliar with Bahasa Malaysia, the word ‘kemaluan’ is a homonym that can either mean humiliation or embarrassment or refer to a person’s genitals.

It is uncertain who originated the trending topic, but netizens jumped on the hashtag to tweet about the disgraced former prime minister while celebrating the double entendre. Take a look at some of these tweets:

For now, Najib has failed in his appeal at the Court of Appeal, where he was seeking to overturn the High Court’s July 28, 2020 decision which found him guilty of all seven charges relating to SRC’s RM42 million.

According to Malay Mail, the High Court previously sentenced Najib to 10 years’ jail for each of six charges (three counts each of criminal breach of trust and money laundering), as well as 12 years’ jail and an RM210 million fine with an additional five years’ jail if the fine is not paid for the abuse of position charge.

The High Court had ruled that Najib’s prison sentences would run concurrently or at the same time, which would mean maximum imprisonment of 12 years for Najib.

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