Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak today attempted to show his lighter side, by answering what he said were “hilarious” question posed by Malaysians on social media sites Twitter and Facebook on Tuesday via the #tanyanajib exercise.

“This exercise has given me fresh insights into our fellow Malaysians, how we think and how we use social media.

NONE “I will address few of these entertaining questions before addressing the more serious ones raised by you,” he said on a video posted on social media site YouTube this afternoon.

But those who put in the effort to ask serious questions are still left hoping for some substance, which were largely missing in the two videos dedicated to the sober queries uploaded so far.

Of the more than 2,000 humourous questions posed between 4.30 to 6pm that day, Najib only chose to answer six, including one asking whether pirates or ninjas will prevail in a duel.

“If it is on land, ninjas, if it is at seas, pirates,” said the premier in a matter-of-fact manner as the  video clip cut roughly to a drawing of pirates and ninjas over period music.

The two minute and 51 seconds video was accompanied by upbeat music and editing which gave the clip an amateurish and youthful feel.

The premier, who let out a hearty laugh at the end of the video presumably in amusement, also claimed that he has not had the chance to iron his own shirt since he entered politics and that he is not a fan of the politics of ‘divide and rule’.  

Not a fan of Machiavelli

“I have read ( The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli). I still remember several quotations from the book (but) I am not a fan of the book or the author. In politics, I don't practice Machiavelli's principles,” he said.

On a more serious side, human capital appeared to be his agenda when answering ‘sober’ questions in two more videos addressing such matters.

Using this an opportunity to promote vocational training, Najib told Facebook user acik clunk who asked about those with SPM qualifications being sidelined by employers, that it is best to try to gain more training to ensure a higher income.

The PM however largely skirted a selected question, also posted on Facebook by en zarul , who claimed to be one of “hundreds of thousands of Malaysians working abroad” and wanted to know how the recently announced Talentcorp plans to entice people like him back to Malaysia.

Najib, however, only said that Talentcorp’s role is to “engage with Malaysians working abroad by informing them about opportunities in Malaysia, in particular to do with the Economic Transformation Programme”.

He added that Talentcorp is also responsible in convincing those who are “still making a decision on whether to work in Malaysia or abroad” to choose Malaysia, although he did not elaborate on how.

“As a package, I am convinced that working in Malaysia is a very good option,” he said.

Questions posed to the prime minister, tagged as #tanyanajib , made the top 10 world trend list at number five for several minutes on Twitter.

Najib is expected to release a total of 71 videos, to be released in stages.