Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and US President Barack Obama get in their golf cart after playing on the 18th green at the Clipper Golf course in Hawaii in this file picture taken on December 25, 2014. — Reuters pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 25 — The previous US administration under Barack Obama, should have distanced itself from his then Malaysian counterpart, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Tom Wright said today.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) journalist and co-author of current bestseller Billion Dollar Whale, said welcoming Najib then was a lesson for America.

“I’d say one lesson for America would be you know, when your veteran state department people say don’t do something, and in this case, don’t trust the Najib government, they should have listened.

“The Obama White House should have listened, and it was Ben Rhodes. He was one of the deputy national security adviser who really was pushing the Najib relationship in the face of you know, whole Asia, saying, ‘Well look, he’s (Najib) locking up people under the Sedition Act or whatever it was, and you should tread carefully.’

“But he (Rhodes) did not do so,” Wright told an interview with several media outlets here today when asked what lesson has the US learnt from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) saga, which was also the subject of large-scale investigations there.

Najib was previously seen as a close ally of the now former US president, with the two even enjoying a game of golf, which Najib had proudly spoken about.

In 2014, Najib reportedly held a golfing session with Obama as a sign of his diplomatic prowess, calling himself the only prime minister ever recorded doing so with the leader of the global superpower.

According to news portal Malaysiakini, Najib made the statement a year later in 2015, while speaking to Malaysian students in New York, where he was attending the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

Najib acknowledged, however, the criticism at home over the golfing session that took place during what was arguably the worst floods to hit peninsular Malaysia late last year.

After a photograph of Najib teeing off with Obama surfaced in December, angry messages flooded the prime minister’s Facebook page, with most calling for him to cancel his holiday and return home.

Najib had then assured Malaysians that Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, then deputy prime minister, was handling the crisis, although he returned home shortly after when the flooding worsened.

The Pekan MP had also shared a ride with Obama during his Malaysian visit in 2016.

He added later that it was during that ride in Kuala Lumpur that he and the Obama made plans for a golfing trip in Hawaii.