NAJIB PRIDES ON HIS FACEBOOK CONNECTION WITH MALAYSIANS

By P. Vijian

CHENNAI, Jan 31 (Bernama) -- Besides politics, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib
Razak has another fervid passion -- Facebook.

Like millions of people around the world, Najib has joined the social networking
website to reach out to the masses, more so Malaysians, hoping to
clip the political divide between the old and young generations.

Najib speaks fondly of Facebook although he has hardly time to surf, but a team
manages and frequently updates his site which, he says, now has about 80,000
fans.

"I have an idea of inviting all of them to have tea with me, but the number is
large. Maybe, I will have a few hundred at a time," Najib told New Delhi
Television (NDTV) during his recent visit to Chennai.

"Malaysia is a new generation, not incumbent with old baggage. We have to
adjust. They don't want to see us as old tired politicians. We have to change
with time because it is an IT-savvy generation," said Najib, who merrily shared
his thoughts about his Facebook campaign.

Facebook, with over 350 million users, is increasingly becoming a powerful
social networking tool around the globe, and being a seasoned politician, Najib
is turning to the digital superhighway to connect to Malaysians at large.

"Malaysians are generally warm and sincere. We must have the personal rapport to
move forward," he told the NDTV interviewer in an exclusive interview.

Najib concluded by saying that leaders needed to provide the political direction
to the people, mainly to the younger generation, in order to march into the
thickening globalised 21st century.
-- BERNAMA