Najib Razak has many advisers so he's lucky he doesn't have someone like Mark Textor in his team. One or two come dangerously close now and then. But as long as the Prime Minister controls his advisers - and not the other way round - things should be alright.
“I think I went too far this time and I unreservedly apologize,” he told Australian broadcaster SBS, after also tweeting his remorse to “Indonesian friends” and followers.
But just who is Mark Textor? And why — as many people have been surprised to discover — is he an adviser to Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott?
Textor has been described as one of the most influential people in Australia, and the most domineering, divisive pollster the country has ever seen. For 25 years, he has made a living out of taking the pulse of public sentiment. His skills have helped secure election victories for top international politicians, including British Prime Minister David Cameron and London’s Mayor Boris Johnson, as well as heads of government in Australia and New Zealand. So it was a surprise to many that the experienced communicator made such a faux pas at a time when relations between his country and Indonesia are so frayed.
Textor has admitted he slipped up. ”Twenty-five years in politics, one or two mistakes, this is certainly one of them,” he said Thursday.
As we ponder what the other mistake of his career could be, here are some of his mud-slinging tweets preserved for posterity.
The one where he brought up the 2005 suicide attack in Bali and linked to a photo of the bombers
“Last time I looked no Indonesians were ever bombed in Australia” (removed from Twitter)
The one where he slammed Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s propensity to use Twitter
“What sort of head of state communicates with a head of a neighbouring government by twitter FFS? SBY” (removed from Twitter)
The one where he gave tips for saving on apparently alcoholic beverages to the leader of the country with the biggest Muslim population in the world
