COMMENT | The disgraced former prime minister, Najib Abdul Razak, is a better actor than a politician. He lives in a bubble and would dismiss us if we told him that his tenure was a reign of terror.

Nevertheless, Najib is aware that time is against him, and he has not been idle.

While evidence is being collected, and charges against him finalised, Najib, as is his wont, has not stopped using other people and taking the credit for their work.

From his house in Langgak Duta, Kuala Lumpur, he has worked hard to shore up support, rouse the rabble, create confusion, garner sympathy and attempt to mitigate his crimes.

He used the steady stream of visitors to his house to make out that he is a victim. He then travelled to his hometown, Pekan, to whip up more support.

Notice the troops of white-robed, white kopiah boys, from the tahfiz school, breaking fast with him. Remember that during the spate of tahfiz school fires, Najib did not order the closure of all boarding houses, nor have them inspected for various violations, including fire safety.

Instead, he just pumped more millions of ringgit into the tahfiz schools. He banked on Muslim sentiments saying that the fires were God's will. This meant any failure, on the school's part to ensure a safe environment for the children, was completely ignored. The donations ensured that the schools and parents were beholden to him. They dared not blame the authorities for failing, in their duty of care, to protect their children.

Najib's modus operandi is "You keep your mouth shut, and there will be more money for you. You help me, I help you."

Aware that the eye-watering haul of designer handbags, foreign currency, watches and gold bars, but especially the bags, would implicate his wife, he issued a statement, on his arrival at the Pekan Umno-Baru building, to reiterate that he not stolen the rakyat's money.

Simple arithmetic will show

Simple arithmetic would have shown the rakyat the fallacy of his argument. On his PM's wages of around RM23,000 per month, he could not possibly have afforded the truckloads of contraband.

One of the Birkin bags is alleged to cost a whopping RM1.5 million. It would take several lifetimes, on that pay packet, to pay for the haul of goods Moreover, there should be a monetary limit on gifts. In my former firm, gifts of over RM50 had to be declared and handed to the firm.

It was crucial for Najib to counter the negative effects of a wife with an unhealthy obsession for designer handbags. To do this he said that it was slanderous to allude to him as a hen-pecked hubby who held a kitchen cabinet, rather than someone who made real decisions with a real cabinet.

Najib had only himself to blame when he said that many Malaysians watched YouTube for news about him and his wife, instead of watching the news on the country's economy.

Screaming fanatical thugs

Legitimate newspapers are subject to stringent laws, threatened with shutdowns and lawsuits, the withdrawal of licences, the harassment of reporters, and screaming fanatical thugs daubing the premises with red paint.

With the steady stream of friends, former cabinet members and die-hard supporters visiting him, Najib was confident that, on the following day, he would be portrayed as a man who was wronged and betrayed. Loyalties run deep, especially if one has been a recipient of dedak.

The supporters would upload photographs of him sleeping on a sofa, and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, in a similar cramped pose, on another sofa. The impression being conveyed was one of the heartless police ignoring their needs, while they raided the premises.

As expected, the response was immediate from pro-Najib supporters. Why were the police so inhumane? Why do this to the poor couple, on the first day of Ramadhan?

Ramadhan, they would repeat, is a month in which Muslims are supposed to be compassionate. Has Najib ever shown compassion for the rakyat during any previous month of Ramadhan? If Najib had felt any sense of right and wrong, and if he was truly God-fearing, there would be no allegation that he had stolen the rakyat's money.

He is not the victim. The rakyat is the victim. Dr Mahathir Mohamad is right. Malaysians mudah lupa (easily forget).

Najib played to the crowd in Pekan, and denied stealing the rakyat's money. He would be foolish to admit to any wrongdoing.

While he denied the theft of the rakyat's money, he made no attempt to account for the vast wealth that he has misappropriated from the rakyat. If he can lodge no cogent defence, we have no reason to doubt his guilt.

His most laughable remark was when he said, "People want to hear nonsense and slander as opposed to the truth. So the truth has been defeated by lies."

Last week, his former sports minister, Khairy Jamaluddin, regretted not telling the truth to Najib. Then, a few days later, Najib said he wished Khairy had indeed told him the truth.

Sadly, Najib's statement in Pekan, confirms that he cannot accept the truth. He does not think he stole the rakyat's money. The man is too full of himself and will not admit his guilt, nor will he claim responsibility for all that has gone wrong.

He said, "I'm hurt because of this. It's like playing football, we play fairly but those who committed fouls win."

Najib mudah lupa. In the past, he played football just like he runs elections. The exception in this 14th general election was that the majority of the players refused money to influence the outcome of the game.

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a defender of the truth, the admiral-general of the Green Bean Army and president of the Perak Liberation Organisation (PLO). Blog, Twitter.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.