“Is there any point in public debate in a society where hardly anyone has been taught how to think, while millions have been taught what to think?”

- Peter Hitchens

COMMENT | Last year, when Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo nixed the idea of state-owned media broadcasting live telecasts of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s court trials, I thought the government had dodged the bullet when it came to shots fired by the media-savvy former prime minister.

Najib’s lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah thought it was a good idea, supposedly for transparency issues, for the trials to be telecast live. The reality is that since Pakatan Harapan came into power, Najib has been playing a better game with the base than Harapan political operatives whose strategy seems to be to make a martyr out of the former prime minister.

I have no idea who would sign this petition for a live telecast of Najib’s trail, but apparently, there are people out there who think that this is a good idea. I have no idea why they would think this. Keep in mind that Najib was not displaced by a Malay tsunami.

While the prime minister, the prime minister-in-waiting and numerous Harapan officials continue the strategy of attacking Najib, what they miss is that the allegations against Najib did not remove him from Umno.