Najib's brother Nazir says future of Malaysia "terrifies" him

Nazir Razak, the brother of Malaysia's prime minister Najib Razak, has said publicly that the future of the nation "terrifies him".

In an Instagram post, the chairman of CIMB, said that the political atmosphere was "toxic" and compared the state of Malaysia's politics to the plot in popular television series Game of Thrones (GoT).

"So what lies ahead? The parallels with GoT continue. The future terrifies me: I just can't see how our institutions can recover, how our political atmosphere can become less toxic, how our international reputation can be repaired," he said.

"I think we have to pause, fix our moral compass and deal with our structural problems holistically".

He also reiterated his call for a new national consultative council, which he had previously mooted in 2015.

The Financial Times quoted Nazir as saying that the proposal for a national consultative council has its supporters "except no one trusts that today's government will do it genuinely".

Nazir's post comes just after business publication FinanceAsia named his brother Najib the worst finance minister in the Asia Pacific region. In the past year, Najib has found himself in the centre of a controversy after reportedly receiving a large amount of money in his bank account. In January, Malaysia's attorney-general said that it found no criminal offences, and that the the US$681 million (S$974 million) transferred was a gift from the royal family in Saudi Arabia.

Earlier this week, Swiss authorities said that unnamed officials from Malaysia's state investment fund 1MDB are suspected of misappropriating up to about US$4 billion, but clarified that the prime minister was not among those being investigated.

The drawn out 1MDB saga has sparked investigations in various countries, including Singapore where a "large number" of bank accounts were seized, Channel NewsAsia reported. The Commercial Affairs Department and the Monetary Authority of Singapore said they had started investigating "possible money-laundering and other offences carried out in Singapore" since the middle of 2015.

One of five brothers born to Malaysia's second prime minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, Nazir has spoken out on the political situation in Malaysia on numerous occasions.

In November last year, he warned that political instability was deterring foreign investors from investing in the country. He also raised concern over claims that former adviser to 1MDB Tan Sri Dr Abdul Samad Alias resigned because he was denied access to information.

In January 2014, Nazir wrote an article on his late father, describing him as a man whose "frugality was legendary".

Many pundits saw his article as criticism of Najib's lifestyle, especially since Najib and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, are often criticised for allegedly leading a lavish lifestyle.

ljessica@sph.com.sg