This ought to have been an excruciatingly embarrassing time for Najib Razak, Malaysia’s scandal-engulfed prime minister, to meet the leaders of the free and not-quite-so free world. The development fund he helped set up, 1Malaysia Development Berhad, is linked with multiple international probes into suspicious transactions. Weighed down by $11bn in debt, it is fighting to stay afloat. Instead, Mr Najib, fresh from the glow of finding $700m from an unnamed Middle Eastern donor in his personal bank account, appeared to relish the chance of hosting the US president and Chinese premier, both of whom were in Kuala Lumpur last week to attend regional gatherings.
As well he might. Barack Obama, who badly needs Mr Najib to support a broad agenda, from counter-terrorism to free trade, went decidedly easy on a leader who stands accused of misappropriating state funds on a massive scale. Among other things, Mr Obama praised Malaysia as being “extraordinarily helpful” in fighting Isis with a counter-narrative of moderate Islam. He also acknowledged Malaysia’s importance as a signatory of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade pact that Washington hopes will bind it to the world’s most dynamic region and complement its much-discussed (though not-so-much enacted) military pivot to the Pacific.
Li Keqiang, the Chinese leader, went one better. He showered Mr Najib with gifts — as if $700m was not enough. State-owned China General Nuclear Power Group coughed up $2.3bn to buy energy assets belonging to 1MDB, thereby relieving its debt misery. Mr Li talked glowingly about the potential for other big Chinese investments, including a planned high-speed rail link from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore. The two traded purchases in each other’s debt as lovers might trade poems.