KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 8): The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has questioned the wisdom of the White House and U.S. President Donald J Trump of extending an invitation to Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to visit the Presidential residence.

In a scathing opinion piece Sept 6, the WSJ’s Editorial Board said a visit to the White House is a diplomatic plum that world leaders covet.

“Any embarrassment is better than giving a scandal-tainted leader a White House photo-op,” it said in the hard-hitting article.

“So why is President Trump bestowing this honor on Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who jailed an opposition leader and is a suspect in a corruption scandal that spans the globe?” it said.

The WSJ said it was not clear that Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson are getting anything in return for associating with a leader their own Justice Department (DOJ) is investigating.

WSJ said this could set them up for a repeat of the way Najib humiliated Barack Obama.

To recap, WSJ said Obama cozied up to Najib and chose to ignore the prosecution of former Deputy Prime Minister and de facto PKR leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim when he made the first visit by a U.S. President in 60 years to Kuala Lumpur in April 2014.

Eight months later, Obama invited Najib for a showy round of golf in Hawaii, said WSJ.

The influential paper said Najib oversaw the creation of 1Malaysia Developent Bhd (1MDB), a state-owned fund that was supposed to attract foreign investment.

It said the U.S. DOJ alleges that the Prime Minister and his associates looted the fund of US$4.5 billion.

“The DOJ has filed civil lawsuits to freeze more than $1.6 billion of assets allegedly stolen from the fund. Five other nations are also investigating, and Singapore has convicted five financiers of money laundering and fraud. Mr. Najib hasn’t been charged and denies wrongdoing, and Malaysia’s Attorney General cleared him.

“Under Najib, Malaysian authorities also conducted a six-year prosecution against opposition leader and former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on dubious charges of sodomy, for which he was sentenced to five years in prison.

“That legal farce helped Najib’s party win a narrow victory in the 2013 election,” it said.

WSJ added that the benefits of communing with Najib are not obvious.

“Perhaps Mr. Tillerson thinks Malaysia will help tighten the financial screws on North Korea, which has long used the country as a business hub.

“But Mr. Najib isn’t likely to stop his strategic drift toward China. Keeping 1MDB afloat will require cash infusions, and China, eager to help fellow authoritarians, can deploy its One Belt, One Road slush fund. Mr. Najib can then buy off the opposition and consolidate power,” it said.

WSJ said if Malaysia slides into dictatorship, it will almost surely fall into Beijing’s orbit.

It said the U.S. relationship depends on Malaysia remaining a viable democracy.

“That’s why helping Mr. Najib at this critical moment is a mistake,” said WSJ.