Is MRT Corp giving prominence to someone who has been described as a “national embarrassment” by the Court of Appeal? Doesn’t such action give the impression that it is paying special interest to and giving VIP treatment to a corrupt leader and his family?

Or is MRT Corp trying to make it to the “Book of dubious records” by claiming to be the first public transport company to have a convict get a feel of the first test ride? Or will it go down in history as the first transport company in the world to have rolled out the red carpet for a convicted felon?

If you feel that I am annoyed, you are right. All I can say is that I have a right to be so. If not for the follies of Najib, we, the citizens would not have to fork out RM42 billion (at the last count) for losses incurred by 1MDB.

Gross excess

Malaysians – you and I will have to pay up every sen of that money which has disappeared and part of which has been used for some to lead lives of luxury. If he had used the money for the benefit of the public and the country, Najib may be forgiven, but he spent it on himself.

For example, Najib used his credit cards to buy more than RM3.3 million of goods at a jeweller in Italy in a single day, a court heard during the SRC International corruption trial of the former prime minister.

During the trial two years ago, the court was told that at De Grisogono, a Swiss luxury jeweller in Italy, RM3.3 million worth of jewellery was purchased on Najib’s Visa and Mastercard platinum credit cards in August 2014.

A few months later, RM466,000 was spent at a Chanel boutique in Hawaii and RM127,000 at Bangkok’s luxury Shangri-La hotel using the same credit cards.

He was subsequently convicted and sentenced to 12 years’ jail and fined RM210 million. Were these facts not known to decision-makers in MRT Corp? Don’t they read newspapers or watch the television?

Why should he be given such a privilege when he should be shunned? Having known Najib’s notoriety and infamy, why would anyone want to associate with him? The hidden hands who sanctioned Najib’s ride with his family may have done it for reasons to known only to themselves.

‘Investing’ in future?

Shameless as the MRT Corp can be, inviting Najib may have been seen in a different light by the company and its directors. Is the company spreading its bets or “investing” in Najib for the future? Or is it a case of patronising the convicted felon – a common peculiarity in government-owned companies?

MRT Corp may have adopted a “do it and be dammed” attitude but since it is operated with taxpayers’ funds, it can longer get away with familiar phrases like the “trains kissed” or Najib is “Bossku”, or fall back on his battle cry “Malu apa?”

However, what it failed to take into account was the sentiment of upstanding Malaysians. More importantly, this episode has more serious implications, especially when issues of integrity, honour and accountability are at their lowest ebb.