Najib, the Queen and the Pope
(The Diplomat) Marrying the demands of international diplomacy with the political realities of home is a tough ask for most countries and their foreign ministries. The two can be a difficult fit, as Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has found out all too well.
Some back home seem determined to provide an unwanted backdrop for his whistle-stop European tour designed to shore-up his country’s vastly improving relations with the West and bring in some much needed foreign investment.
However, echoes of the Bersih movement and their demands for electoral reform have dogged Najib and his entourage from London to Rome, while the prime minister’s own supporters have provided the nastiest thorn in his political side with wild and unsubstantiated claims of unwanted foreign meddling in domestic affairs.
Much of the initial fault lies with Najib. He declared the July 9 Bersih rallies in Kuala Lumpur and across the country illegal and failed to muzzle his own party, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), and fringe elements threatening what should have been a simple and peaceful march.
The police moved in with a heavy hand. Protesters were baton charged, tear gassed and beaten. People wearing yellow, the colour synonymous with the Bersih movement were arrested.
Najib defended the police action, deeming it necessary to keep the peace while attempting to demonize what was as much a mums and dads rally calling for clean elections as an opposition attempt to topple the government.
Playing to a home audience, his government quickly blamed prejudices in the international media for the negative portrayal that made headlines around the world, and Najib was probably hoping the mess would be quietly forgotten as he packed his bags for England.
No such luck.
Supporters of Bersih, which means clean in Malay, in London booed Najib as he went to Downing Street for lunch with his British counterpart David Cameron. He and First Lady Rosmah Mansor later met with the Queen, who surprised all by wearing yellow against a backdrop of yellow flowers.
The choice of outfit from such an astute and experienced head of state was widely interpreted as a sympathetic sign of support for Bersih, although the Queen’s dress sense seemed to escape the attention of fashionistas on state-linked newspapers in Malaysia.
Read more at: http://the-diplomat.com/asean-beat/2011/07/19/najib-the-queen-and-the-pope/
