As the adage goes 'if you can’t beat them, join them' - this seems to have been taken on by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

He has adopted the moniker ‘Brother Ah Jib’ on Facebook in an attempt to woo more Chinese voters, especially the youth.

NONE Brother Ah Jib or ‘Ah Jib Gor’ in Cantonese, has been the default term used by Chinese-speaking Facebook and forum users when criticising Najib or his policies, to avoid naming him directly.

The moniker gained prominence in the opposition ceramah circuit during the Sarawak election campaign last April, and in a series of notorious YouTube parody videos produced last year by a user who goes by the name ‘nasilemak2020’.

Embracing the moniker, the ‘Brother Ah Jib’ website went live on Saturday night. The premier’s new aide Wong Nai Chee has confirmed that Brother Ah Jib is indeed Najib’s new official Facebook page.

“The Brother Ah Jib page is an official channel that supplements the current Najib Facebook page. It seeks to offer an alternative method for the PM to interact with Internet users,” he told Malaysiakini .

Portraying Najib’s lighter side

Wong said the idea came from some of Najib’s friends, who hoped the premier would show his lighter side to Internet users and not talk about politics.

wong nai chee 220310 “This page is for Najib to source comments, opinions and suggestions from the Chinese community. The premier hopes that this can be used as a channel to engage the community,” Wong ( left ) wrote on the information tab on the page.

The “anything but politics” request proved to be a bit too hot to handle, prompting the page administrators to issue a plea at about 3pm yesterday to those leaving comments to tone it down.

“We would like to remind everyone, this page is not for politics. We don’t welcome people causing trouble here. We hope you have good intentions and are independent,” wrote an unnamed administrator.

However, the administrator said that topics on lifestyle and others which are rationale are welcome.

This Facebook post by the administrator has thus far attracted more than 500 comments, mostly which ridiculed the ‘anything but politics’ rule, while some took the opportunity to poke fun at the premier.

“Brother Ah Jib. I am jobless. Do you have any suggestion? Can I administer your page? I don’t need a few million. Just RM3,000 will do,” wrote one user.

“Honourable prime minister... I want to rear cattle...,” wrote another.

Understand Brother Najib’s life

According to the administrator, the prime minister, after having done his official duties, would set aside time to engage the youths in order to get to understand them better.

Najib, said the administrator, is a normal person like anyone else. He loves his family, likes sports, has favourite holiday destinations, patronises certain restaurants and also has favourite movie stars.

“Do you want to better understand Brother Ah Jib’s life, outside of his running the country? Then join this page now. Let us get closer to this coolest prime minister ever in Malaysian history.

“Follow his little moments in real time. Don’t you think this form of interaction is great?” wrote the administrator.

By this morning, the Facebook page had attracted 5,006 'likes' and there were a dozen of posts purportedly made on behalf of the premier.

Some disgruntled netizens have since set up an anti-Najib Facebook page, ‘Say No to Ah Jib Gor’ .