It was obvious from the start that the questions to be covered in that 4 minute interview were prearranged, Reuters was so disappointing that I am so disappointed that they did a sloppy job of interviewing Najib.
Najib must have got strict instructions from the owner of the handbags to preempt that the handbags found at his place were only wedding gifts and not as a result of money laundered from 1MDB.
Certainly, the public would have enjoyed the interview more and would have been more convinced of deception, had it been if Najib been interviewed by Stephen Sackur the famous BBC Hardtalk guy and not Reuters.
The first obvious nonverbal indicators were that Najib’s legs was tapping the floor several times as his anxieties was self-indulgent, he was waiting to run out of the interview immediately after talking about the instructions to preempt her handbags.
At the 8.5 second of the interview he is seen licking his lips apparently wiping away the dried spittle that has accumulated in the corners of his mouth with his tongue jutting out for a split second, this is a sign which is called cotton mouth and it is because of the dried-out mucus membranes, in Najib’s situation it is due to deceptive behaviors.
During his tongue licking he looked down or had a quick gaze aversion, another indicator of a liar breaking eye contact and looking away to avoid seeing the interviewer's facial expression in case they detect his lies. In principle, he was trying to “save face.”
If you look at his forehead it was unconventionally furrowed throughout the interview a very clear indication of deception personified.
If you look at his forehead it was unconventionally furrowed throughout the interview a very clear indication of deception personified.
At the 9th second onwards of the interview, Najib states, “I didn’t benefit from the 1MDB because I believe that the 1MDB was created to do something good for the country.”
In deceptive verbal behaviors analysis this statement is called an unintended message. An unintended message is a truthful statement made by a deceptive person that, when the literal meaning of the statement is analyzed, it conveys information that the person does not realize he’s conveying, It is also referred to as the ”truth in the lie.”
Since he finds himself in the 1MDB hole this deceptive Najib finds this question threatening as the facts are not his helper, he’s obviously not in a position to respond with facts.
In the process of developing a response, he makes a conscious decision to take a particular tack. In this case, Najib is concentrating on convincing the audience of his morality.
What Najib is not aware of, however, is that often in that process, without even him realizing it, he will say things that reveal what in reality he knows to be the truth.
When he said that, “I didn’t benefit from the 1MDB because I believe that the 1MDB was created to do something good for the country.”
What he did not realize when communicating that statement was he was telling the truth in the lie as he was in truth saying, my family members and others and those in 1MDB that benefitted most from 1MDB through me, and not me only, as I was doing 1MDB for the country.
Later, Najib says, “The items seized were all wedding gifts and what is the connections with 1MDB.” He is again revealing a truth in the lie in that because it cannot be proven that it was bought with 1MDB money or connected with 1MDB money therefore they are WEDDING gifts.
He goes on talking about himself and what the public will think about him been unfairly treated by the authorities as he will be negatively perceived by the public and what not.
To me it is all nauseating to continue listening to this interview of lies after lies without shame on Najib’s part.
Does he not know the very public who he says are thinking that he is been unfairly treated by the authorities are the very public who are actually rejoicing in the fact that he may face the guillotine for ordering Altantuya’s demise. And that his lies can be seen through clearly by anybody without using glasses.
At one point this clown of the century mentions that the vast number of handbag gifts. By using the word VAST he, himself is admitting the discovery of the handbags as titanic, true enough the hidden titanic now has been discovered.
I believe the right interview questions would have made him shudder. Questions like:
1. “Why did you not do the right thing when you knew that the 1MDB board did not do the right thing by following the law?
2. As chairman of the board was it not your fiduciary duty to do the right thing?
If the interview was conducted by me or Stephen Sackur of BBC Hard talk he would have literally pissed in his pants and we may have seen it.
You see this Reuters interview was nonsense it was heavily one sided. There are so many deceptive indicators both verbal and nonverbal in that 4 minutes, that I may bring out at another time.
It is important for me to point out that, as of now Najib has denied all 1MDB known charges and had pled not guilty, and had been found guilty of none of these known charges.
The opinions above are nothing more than my analysis of Najib’s behavior in this interview with Reuters held at Langkawi, Kedah on the 20th June 2018 and should not be construed in any way as proof of Najib’s guilt in any of those charges in the public domain.
Jackson Yogarajah
President
Body Language Surveillance Society of Malaysia