NAJIB - FROM ANXIOUS SPEAKER TO GREAT ORATOR

By Sakina Mohamed

KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 (Bernama) -- Iris Shaari Mat Aris recalled
Thursday how he was tickled when Najib Tun Razak delivered his first
speech as the member of parliament for Pekan in 1976.

Located on the banks of the Pahang River 50 km south of Kuantan, Pekan is
the royal town of the east coast state of Pahang Darul Makmur in Peninsular
Malaysia.

The 66-year-old former bodyguard of Najib's father and the country's second
prime minister, Abdul Razak Hussein, said Najib "sounded so awkward" when
speaking at an event of a parent-teacher association of a school in Kampung
Almarhum in Pekan, Pahang.

"I could only bear listening to him speak a few sentences in Bahasa Malaysia
before hiding in the car with the driver because he sounded so awkward," an
amused Idris Shaari told Bernama in an exclusive interview at his house in Jalan
Eaton here recently.

"He (Najib) had only returned from England a little over a year earlier and
could not speak Bahasa Malaysia very well," he said.

Nevertheless, Idris Shaari is now very pleased with Najib as the latter had
placed consistent effort to polish his oratory skills and is able to speak
eloquently in Malay language and English.

Idris Shaari, who has been with Najib since the beginning of his political
career, said Najib was sent to pursue his studies at the Malvern Boys' College
in Worcestershire, England, at the age of 12, which explains his lack of fluency
in Bahasa Malaysia early in life.

He said Najib was only allowed to return to the country once a year and by
the time he returned to his homeland for good after graduating with a honours
degree in Industrial Economics from the University of Nottingham, England, it
was 1974 and he was 21.

"But he was very determined to overcome the adversity. He employed the help
of language professors who gave private lessons at his home and he learned until
he is as good as we see him today. And in the bid to get closer to the people of
his constituency and understand their ways, Najib also learned to read and write
in Jawi," he said.

Idris Shaari, who was formerly with the police force, retired in 1976 upon
the death of Tun Razak, and was appointed as the private secretary to Najib's
mother, Rahah Mohd Noah, and was made the family's caretaker as well.

He was only 22 when he was first employed by Tun Razak in 1965, and had been
with the family for 44 years.

Idris Shaari described Najib as a well-mannered child who studied hard and
had a great relationship with his four brothers -- Ahmad Johari, 54, Mohamad
Nizam, 51, Mohamad Nazim, 47, and Mohamad Nazir, 42.

"In all my years with them, I have never heard any of them upsetting or
bad-mouthing another. The younger ones are always respectful of Najib, not
because he is a minister or is now going to be the next prime minister, but
because he is their eldest brother," he said.

He said the brothers are so close that they would make it a point to
congregate at their mother's home every Thursday for dinner.

"Although they deeply respect their mother, you can find them freely joking
and laughing with her," he said.

When asked if Tun Razak had ever groomed Najib to take over his place or to
get involved in politics, Idris Shaari replied in the negative and said: "Tun
(Razak) never encouraged any of his children to go into politics.


"However, a year before Tun died, when Najib was in Malaysia for the
holidays, he (Tun Razak) had asked me to bring Najib down to visit the villages
in Pahang," he said.

He said it was possible that Tun Razak already knew that he had not much
longer to live and wanted Najib to continue his legacy. Tun Razak died on Jan
14, 1976 of leukemia in London.

On the appointment of Najib as the sixth prime minister Friday, Idris
Shaari said he hoped that Najib would pick his team from the most loyal of his
supporters because a strong team was needed to steer the country through the
economically tumultuous times and improve relations among the races.

"I also hope that he will keep an eye on those working for him to ensure
that they are working to help him develop the country, and not accomplish their
own personal agenda," he said.

-- BERNAMA