KUALA LUMPUR – The Court of Appeal’s dismissal of Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s conduct over SRC International Sdn Bhd as a “national embarrassment” has given birth to a witty and suggestive social media hashtag: #KemaluanNegara.
The hashtag, which literally translates as #NationalEmbarrassment, has also become a trending topic on Twitter after the court upheld Najib’s guilty conviction and sentence of the related corruption charges yesterday morning.
As at the time of writing, the trending #KemaluanNegara hashtag has amassed some 2,334 tweets to its name.
For those unfamiliar with Bahasa Malaysia, the word ‘kemaluan’ is a homonym which can either mean humiliation or embarrassment, or refer to a person’s genitals.
It is uncertain who originated the trending topic, but netizens jumped on the hashtag to tweet about the disgraced former prime minister while celebrating the double entendre.
One user pointed out that the hashtag had countered Najib’s famous ‘malu apa bossku?’ (why be embarrassed, boss?) slogan.
“I like to think that the judge has been holding back the #NationalEmbarrassment / #KemaluanNegara remark as a response to ‘malu apa bossku’ for this very day, for this very moment,” Twitter user @Julien Chen quipped.
“He probably wrote it down somewhere when he first heard it and brought it out after.”
Another user who goes by the name Jaghead came to a similar conclusion.
“So @NajibRazak went from #MaluApaBossku to #KemaluanNegara.”
So @NajibRazak went from #MaluApaBossku to #KemaluanNegara ?
— Jaghead ??? (@Jaghead13) December 8, 2021
Controversial graphic designer and satirical artist Fahmi Reza Mohd Zarin was also seen to be on a roll yesterday as he posted five new artworks inspired by Najib’s verdict, with the latest one featuring ‘kemaluan negara’ written in Jawi script.
A or B? pic.twitter.com/uONzvLzkgT
— Fahmi Reza (@kuasasiswa) December 8, 2021
Twitter user @ZaxZaefron also drew a parallel with the phallic-shaped Exchange 106 skyscraper, colloquially known as the Tun Razak Exchange building, which Najib had launched when he was in office.
Also #KemaluanNegara pic.twitter.com/yRIN5Uvq8m
— Zax Zefron | แซค (@ZaxZefron) December 8, 2021
Delivering a unanimous judgment this morning, Court of Appeal judge Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil said there were no errors in findings by high court judge Nazlan Ghazali, given that the prosecution has proven elements of the offences beyond a reasonable doubt.
Among the significant rulings made by the Court of Appeal include that the trial judge had correctly found that Najib had been the shadow director of SRC International.
The Court of Appeal, Karim said, also referred to letters supporting arguments that the money received was actually donations by the Saudi royal family.
Karim also mentioned that evidence showed the funds came from SRC International and ended up in Najib’s personal account.
“If they were indeed donations, there was no reason for them to be deposited into SRC International accounts,” Karim said.
He pointed out that Najib’s actions on the RM4 billion loan to SRC International were not for national interest but for personal benefit.
In an admonishment to Najib, Karim’s remarks that “there is no national interest here, just a national embarrassment” had resonated with politicians, the media and netizens. – The Vibes, December 9, 2021
