COMMENT No one can beat Dr Mahathir Mohamad when it comes to answering the press.

Even international journalists respect the former prime minister for the way he handled some of the most difficult questions in the past.

Even though most of us did not necessarily agree with him, his answers made sense - and he could easily turn the tables around, before you could ask a second question.

For that reason, although Dr Mahathir’s whereabouts is known to all, red-shirt leader Jamal Md Yunos is unlikely to carry out his threat to spit on the hand of the man he once adored, without facing the consequences.

What mesmerised me yesterday was the way the nonagenarian responded to a question posed by a journalist about Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s participation in the Rohingya solidarity demonstration. The video clip posted by KiniTV is worth watching again and again.

Even at 92, Dr Mahathir’s mind is still very sharp. I can imagine Najib reeling under the force of the punch after Dr Mahathir poked at him: “When you are in the government, what is there to demonstrate about?”

No one in the right mind would even think of Najib participating in the Rohingya solidarity demonstration, especially when he is the head of a government. The head of government can cut off diplomatic ties to show displeasure with Myanmar, or haul up the ambassador, but Najib did nothing about this.

For this reason, even the deputy director-general of the Myanmar President’s Office, U Zaw Htay knew that Najib’s move was “a ploy for Putrajaya to garner political support among Malaysians”. I tend to agree with Htay.

By turning up in solidarity with the Rohingya, Najib has not only turned Malaysia into a laughing stock to the rest of the world, but poured contempt on the Myanmar government, which is not befitting someone of his stature. Can you imagine US president-elect Donald Trump turning up at a Global Bersih demonstration in Washington DC?

Najib should have abstained from appearing with the Rohingya demonstrators. Instead, he should have taken the advice of PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail in hauling up the ambassador from Myanmar as a head of government.

Or, as someone else suggested, provide refugee status to the Rohingya and other refugees in the country and allow their children to have the opportunity to be educated here in Malaysia - something which only the non-governmental organisations are trying to fill the vacuum.

Now that Najib has put the cart before the horse, we have to wait and see if Myanmar would withdraw its own ambassador to Malaysia for its interference into their country’s political situation.

Or whether the Myanmarese would also reciprocate with a similar demonstration urging Najib to reveal all about the 1MDB scandal. In politics, anything is possible!

Things that cause every head to shake in disbelief

For someone who has been following the political developments in this country, I can say that only Najib is capable of doing things that causes every head to shake in disbelief.

Allow me to give some examples. After it was exposed that RM2.6 billion had gone into his private AmBank accounts, he cooked out a story that a generous Arab prince had donated the amount, thinking that most Malaysians would believe the story that a such a huge amount of money to an individual.

I have watched the interview conducted by three senior members of the press, where Najib himself gave his version of the donation. To say the least, it is not something that we can accept as an explanation.

Since then, a number of other Umno leaders have made one statement after another - some incredulous ones but all have gone on print, so there is really no more credibility left of these leaders when the outcome of their finding was finally made by the US Department of Justice (DOJ).

Malaysians have been bombarded with one lie after another, but recently, more facts are coming out from the trial of Singaporean banker Yeoh Jia Wei, who was believed to have helped the Malaysian counterparts siphon out huge sums of money from the state investment arm, 1MDB.

Whether one believes that Najib is the Malaysian Official 1 or not, I like the explanation given by one Hamidah Osman, who was a former Umno Wanita chief of Gopeng and the former information chief of federal Wanita Umno.

She asked, “How is it that Najib whose signature was all over the documents in the 1MDB scandal could deny that he knew anything about the money that had gone missing?” After all, Article 117 of 1MDB’s constitution states that Najib’s signature as prime minister is required to authorise any major transaction.

Then, I remember immediately after the disappearance of MAS Boeing MH737, Najib suddenly appeared in front of a supermarket and held up a chicken which was sold at RM1 a bird, he commented about the allegedly “high” inflation in the country: “I can still find chicken sold at RM1 a bird.”

While the whole world was asking about the mysterious disappearance of our aircraft, Najib was still living in his own bubble, oblivious of what was happening around him.

While the Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott, was in the forefront all the time, Najib left it to some senior officials and the then-acting transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein to deal with the whole episode.

No wonder the international press was unhappy with the response that they received from the Malaysian authorities. I would have thought that Najib should at least have shown more leadership in dealing with a crisis.

I suspect PAS is being misled

It is obvious to me that with the Bill 355 being now taken over by the Barisan Nasional government, PAS is once again being played out.

From the way things are going, I suspect that even the Kelantan government, which is under PAS currently, will fall into the hands of Barisan Nasional in the coming general election.

Only time will tell, but PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang and Youth chief Nik Abduh Nik Aziz have failed to realise what Umno is up to.

Sadly, Nik Abduh is nowhere as wise as his late father, who had experienced the betrayal of Umno in the past to know that Umno cannot be trusted.

What saddens me is that PAS grassroots continue to support their leaders despite watching the latest developments when Najib took over Bill 355. This is the PAS culture. They become a rudderless boat without the chiefs beating the drum.

So, with the PAS grassroots, it is what their chiefs want them to do that matter. They are unable to make their own analysis or decision whether to support a coalition government with Umno and Barisan Nasional.

Like all three other BN component parties, MCA, MIC and Gerakan, their fate is sealed come the next general election. I can sense that all three BN component parties are feeling trapped, because of the current political developments.

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.