A pro-Umno portal has urged Malaysians to take heed of the events which transpired in Iraq more than a decade ago when its president Saddam Hussein was toppled following a US-led allied invasion.
During that period, MyKMU.net noted how some Iraqis behaved like Malaysian opposition supporters, who wanted to change their leader.
"All sorts of disparaging stories were spread about Saddam by the foreign media, which was accepted and ingested by the local population without debate, including the allegation that Saddam produced weapons of mass destruction.
"Influenced by the propaganda, many Iraqis were willing to work with foreigners, including providing information about the country's defence (capabilities)...
"To them, seeing Saddam fall was far more important than the sovereignty of their nation. It didn't matter if foreigners colonised (their land) as long as Saddam was toppled," it said.
The portal was responding to reports in which one Iraqi regretted his action in hitting the Iraqi president’s statue in central Baghdad with a sledgehammer.
News reports quoted Kadhim Sharif Hassan Al-Jabbouri as saying, "I wish Saddam would return; he executed many of my family but he is still better than these politicians and clerics who got Iraq to the way it is."
"Now, when I go by that statue, I feel pain and shame. I ask myself, why did I topple that statue?
"I'd like to put it back up. To rebuild it. But I'm afraid I'd be killed," he told BBC in a recent interview.
Describing the situation as ironic, MyKMU said nothing could be done to repair the damage and that the decision of one generation has impacted the next.
"We in Malaysia should learn from what happened in Iraq because it seems the approach used by the West to topple Saddam in the past is being used to oust Najib...
"The storyline is different, but the approach is the same.
"Slander, repeated lies, politics of hate are some of those... If Najib is not enough, his wife and children also become targets," it added.
Therefore, the portal urged Malaysians to look at the big picture and not be influenced by unverified propaganda.
The portal also highlighted the wrongdoings linked to former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the court case against Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng as well as the conviction of jailed former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.
Najib has denied abusing public funds for personal gain, blaming such allegations on Mahathir and others conspiring to topple him from power.
Attorney-general Mohamad Apandi Ali has also cleared the prime minister of any wrongdoing, but his detractors continue to assail him over the 1MDB issue and RM2.6 billion political donation.
