The present King of Malaysia has now demonstrated on several occasions that he feels no shame in publicly consorting with the convicted kleptocrat Najib Razak, as more and more evidence comes from every quarter of the globe to prove his multiple guilts.

Najib has stolen billions from the Malaysian people via several different scams. Therefore, the mere RM2 million that he gifted to the equally super-wealthy Pahang Sultan (the present King’s father) out of 1MDB’s stolen money in October 2012 may seem relative peanuts – a fraction of the kickback one could expect from a half decent defence contract, for example.

However, for the vast majority of people on the planet, including in wealthy countries, it is a huge sum of money and more than most hard-working Malaysians could hope to earn in a lifetime. This money was stolen from those hard-working Malaysian people.

So, as the two pampered pals from Pahang, who both owe their positions to inheritance, pose publicly in their expensive silken robes with Najib’s equally corrupted wife in tow, as if nothing was amiss, people have a right to enquire not only what happened to that RM2 million in cash but also what exactly is going on still between these men?

After all, were it not for the King’s clear misuse of his powers in appointing a minority leader to head a coalition of the losing parties from the last election, followed by his declaration of a State of Emergency to shut down Parliament back in 2020, the present UMNO coalition would be unlikely to be in office now.

And it is only thanks to that backdoor coup, facilitated by the untoward decisions by the King, that numerous deals have already been made to let crooks off the hook who, if they had not been UMNO warlords, would now be serving time.

Najib is now desperately weaving story after story and telling blatant lie after blatant lie, as he seeks to manoeuvre himself onto that list of criminals to go scot-free, as he plans a final stage in this series of coups against the democratic will of the people by an elite of kleptocratic power-mongers.

Yet, the entire world (including over 90% of all Malaysians) know him to be guilty. He may pay (with stolen cash) for crowds to cheer him on his PR tours around Malaysia, but the majority of Malaysians do not believe he should escape the punishment that any other person in the country would have to face for his thefts and other crimes…. let alone indulge his fantasy of returning as the political leader of the country.

However, by meeting him, honouring and showcasing him in this way, time after time, this King of Malaysia is sending a clear message to the country that he feels differently. Despite his crimes against his subjects the King feels no shame in associating openly with Najib Razak. He thinks this man and his equally awful wife are suitable persons to honour publicly and support.

The message, therefore, from this King, whose father received that money and whose family have received so much more through all the myriad mining and logging concessions accorded to them by UMNO in their state, is that Najib should be pardoned or even that he is really not guilty as Najib likes to claim.

As everyone is whispering all over social media and beyond, this represents a blatant, embarrassing and shocking ‘two fingers’ to the people of Malaysia, who are thus being told that the law is only for them to abide by, not the pampered princes of the ruling and political elite who live off their labour, taxes and resources.

It is easy to imagine the kind of bubble these two men have lived their lives in.  The King keeps his hundred polo ponies in air-conditioned stables and yet clearly fails to contemplate the grinding hardship of so many of the people of his country, who have suffered the blanket theft of their resources instead of living well from their wealthy lands. Otherwise, he would have acted differently.

Najib is the best-known thief of all and reckons he can get away with it, having been educated from the cradle in UMNO mafia ‘politics’.

Even so, both these men must surely have at least been taught how appearances still matter, even in Malaysia?

Given the repeated demonstrations of support by this King of the country’s internationally best known thief, it is surely time he voiced some explanation as to why as a head of state he choses to be featured consorting with the biggest time criminal in the country?

He needs to explain his logic to Malaysians, or else people will inevitably come to the suspicion that the family of Pahang Sultans have lodged themselves in the pocket of the family of Malaysia’s longterm political leaders – the last being Najib.

People can only further suspect that this posturing is a signal that if the Federal Court does  inevitably uphold the devastating and watertight conviction of this political criminal, the King intends to destroy the reputation of his office and his country by abusing his powers of pardon to let him off.

This is certainly how it looks. The former prime minister who never hesitated to put his opponents in jail, now clearly plans to use his local royal ally to save himself from his own justified punishment for a string of awful crimes.

If this is not the case the King must make that clear… and he also should explain why his father received the RM2 million that he did and when he is going to pay to pay it back to the people of Malaysia?