Kok Wing fends off ‘horrible insults’ and attacks
Najib’s controversial image consultant also declares greatest respect for Mahathir
(Free Malaysia Today) – Veteran adman Lim Kok Wing, the newest member of Najib Razak’s public relations and image-building team, fended off “horrible insults” and “unkind personal attacks” today after finding himself being blamed for “the PR disaster of the century”.
He posted two comments on Twitter today which might be read as a response to criticism about his role in the prime minister’s non-appearance in a public forum on Friday called Nothing2Hide.
In the first posting earlier today on his @limkokwing acount, he said: “There’re too many wrong assumptions and conclusions, far too many unkind, unreasonable personal attacks. Time will tell. Truth will prevail.”
It was not known if he was responding to any particular criticism. However, a commenter responded by saying: “traitor! Back stabber!”
Lim’s remark comes a day after blogger and political analyst Syed Akbar Ali had written a scathing and direct attack on Kok Wing yesterday, reported in Free Malaysia Today.
Syed Akbar, relying on unnamed sources, accused Lim of having bungled by coming up with the idea of the Nothing2Hide forum and said it had become “the biggest PR disaster of the century”, and that people were calling it Nowhere to Hide instead of Nothing2Hide.
An ardent supporter of Dr Mahathir, the blogger and analyst also gave Kok Wing a direct warning to “beat a quiet but hasty retreat” for turning against his longtime mentor. Syed Akbar said “some people are not going to forget you for this” for Kok Wing trying to get Dr Mahathir to lay off his campaign against Najib and warning Dr Mahathir to expect his legacy and reputation to be torn to shreds.
Syed Akbar said that, instead, the only legacy that would go down the drain “is your future as well as your past”.
On Thursday, Dr Mahathir had written about Kok Wing, without referring to him by name, and recounted a private meeting between the two of them. He had closed by calling Kok Wing “an ex-friend”.
The next day, Kok Wing posted on Twitter: “I’ve absolutely the greatest respect n admiration for Tun Mahathir. Everyone who knows me knows this to be the absolute truth @chedet_cc” with a link to Dr Mahathir’s account @chedet_cc.
Today, Kok Wing made no direct reference to the attack on him by Syed Akbar Ali, but an hour after his first comment, he posted: “Some people are so unintelligent that they think they’re always right and that they’ve all the right to throw horrible insults at others.”
