Malaysian PM's wife draws flak

The surat layang – “flying letters” in Malay, or anonymous assaults -- have been flying in record numbers in recent weeks, attacking Rosmah Mansor, the wife of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. They are being picked up and spread in volume by the country’s blogosphere, much of it arrayed against the Barisan Nasional, or ruling national coalition.

It isn’t certain who is behind the attacks, but they are clearly tied to national elections expected either late this year or early in 2012. The opposition and the dominant United Malays National Organization are blaming each other and both saying they aren’t involved. But the 60-year-old Rosmah has become a lightning rod for criticism of the administration, most of it centering on her alleged profligacy and her reported dominance of her husband’s political and social agenda. The attacks compare her to both Shakespeare’s Lady MacBeth, who drove her husband to murder and tragedy, and to former Filipino First Lady Imelda Marcos, who gained fame for her extravagance including owning hundreds of pairs of shoes.

More ominously, as Asia Sentinel has reported, she has been the subject of rumors for several years that she somehow was involved in the murder of Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu, to the extent that a businessman close to her allegedly paid a witness RM750,000 to get out of the country after he said the dead woman had an affair with her husband. In addition, court testimony has indicated that she met with a former aide to Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim prior to the aide’s accusing Anwar of raping him.

Najib draws attention to Muhyiddin's racial glow with Malay-first M'sian-next talk

Amid growing talk of a power challenge within the UMNO party, Prime Minister Najib Razak raised eyebrows with comments that some see as deliberately highlighting the perceived racial bias of his deputy, Muhyiddin Yassin.

At the 5th Annual Malaysian Student Leaders Summit on Sunday, the PM was asked if he saw himself as Malay-first and Malaysian-second or vice-versa. Muhyiddin had kicked up a huge storm of anger amongst the non-Malays when he said a year ago that he was Malay-first and Malaysian-second.

Despite the jeers, the move helped Muhyiddin to gain favour with some of the Malay electorate and also with the right-wing faction in UMNO. It was Najib who had to back off his multi-racial 1 Malaysia slogan and New Economic Model.

"I won't respond in a way that will divide me and my deputy. In Malaysia, that can be very dangerous. People will say, look here, the prime minister and his deputy are not on the same page," Najib said in answer to a question from the audience.