Anticipation mounted during the last day of Parliament yesterday as minister-in-charge of parliamentary affairs Azalina Othman Said had announced earlier it would be the day where questions about the RM2.6 billion donation into Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's personal bank accounts would be answered.

She had not confirmed actually who would be answering the questions and so, eyebrows were raised when Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi took to the stage to address the matter.

Despite the anti-climax, many were eager to hear what he had to say on the RM2.6 billion which was deposited into Najib's bank accounts and which were later proclaimed to be a "political donation" from the Middle East.

However, just three minutes later, Zahid's speech was done and delivered, leaving many thoroughly unsatisfied.

Political analyst Wan Saiful Wan Jan said delegating the task of explaining the burning issue to his deputy showed that Najib had something to hide.

"(It) created the impression that Najib desperately wants to hide something," he told Malaysiakini .

He added that while he is sure the attorney-general gave the right advice to Najib to not speak on the issue to avoid sub judice , the correctness of this advice was a matter of public perception.

The people do not fully trust the new AG yet, he noted.

"People have not forgotten that the former AG was removed on the same day that Najib's other critics were removed and the current AG is still suffering from a trust deficit," said Wan Saiful.

Therefore, he said, not turning up to address the RM2.6 billion issue personally cost the prime minister a "golden opportunity".

"By not turning up in Parliament to face the music personally, Najib has completely failed to change public perception about the situation," he said.

Landslide win?

Fellow analyst Wong Chin Huat told Malaysiakini that yesterday's incident showed that Najib did not care about public perception any more.

"When BN backbenchers are so tamed that backbench revolt is impossible and he can push anything through Parliament, why must he give a damn about public perception?" he asked.

Asked if Najib's supposed apathy towards public perception was because the next general election is still far away, he said that was not necessarily the case.

Instead, Wong said, it is because Najib can still hope to win the election as long as the opposition fails in garnering an overwhelming landslide in votes.

"If the opposition can win by a landslide like 60 percent, then BN and Umno might be left with 30 to 40 percent of seats and more defections will happen.

"But how likely is that given the Malay anxiety?" he said.