Najib: I won’t criticise my successor openly

(Bernama) – Prime Minister Najib Razak said he would not disturb the leadership style of his successor, especially by issuing various criticism openly after his retirement.

He said that every prime minister would take the nation to a certain level and the subsequent premier would take the country to a better level.

“I have a philosophy. I will retire and will not interfere with my successor when the time comes for me to go (as prime minister) later.

“My successor will do better than when I was helming the nation. That is continuity in any struggle.”

He said this during a question-and-answer session in the programme “60 Minutes With the Prime Minister” together with 350 male and female undergraduates from local and foreign universities and representatives of youth organisations at Seri Perdana here today.

The prime minister said this when asked whether he felt comfortable when compared with the previous leaders.

He said that upon his retirement, he wished to do a lot of things that he could not do when he was the leader, including playing football, writing books and visiting countries that he had never been to.

“Why would I want to disturb my successor? But if my successor wants to treat me to dinner or to have coffee, there is no problem. But I will not criticise him or her openly.”

Najib said it was unfair for previous leaders to criticise the leadership of the present leader. In fact the previous president of the United States had never criticised President Barack Obama.

“That is not the right thing to do as a former leader. If he criticises, it is not fair. Bush had never criticised Obama.”

According to the prime minister, the Chinese leader would immediately “disappear” after retirement and it was the best way to ensure that the country’s administration functioned smoothly without disturbance from former leaders.