INTRODUCTION: CONCEPTUALIZING POLITICAL FANDOM

On 24 August 2022, the day after Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak failed in his final appeal to the Federal Court to overturn his graft conviction, a group of 200 Najib loyalists from Pertubuhan Jalinan Perpaduan Negara Malaysia launched a petition calling for a royal pardon for Najib (Leong 2022). That petition was also uploaded to the website change.org. Within a brief span of time, a counter-petition by Bersih was launched with a list of reasons as to why such an extrajudicial action should not be countenanced by the ruling King (Gabungan Pilihanraya Bersih dan Adil Bersih 2022).

As of this writing, the anti-pardon petition garnered 126,363 supporters (Gabungan Pilihanraya Bersih dan Adil Bersih 2022), significantly outnumbering the pro-Najib petition which garnered 11,259 supporters (Ibrahim Ismail 2022). Are these numbers representative of the final and complete downfall of Najib Razak? Is this just the beginning of further extrajudicial intrigue? More importantly, why does UMNO still insist on supporting Najib instead of paving a new future free of his political baggage? In this article, we will unpack the reasons behind the seemingly “unreasonable” and inexplicable popularity of Najib Razak through the perspectives of fandom and parasocial engagements. At the same time, we wish to emphasize that the size of his detractors does not represent his waning relevance since the fact that he still garners attention means that even his detractors still consider him politically relevant and a potential threat.

Fandoms, political or otherwise, operate on social media through meme-driven battles, personal textual postings, parodies, and pop culture-infused discourses—these are part of “fan fiction” activities involving the building of a (possibly illusory) world around a celebrity. The (im)personality of a celebrity derives from how these celebrities are defined; whether through the manner they engage with their target audiences and how their audiences respond to them; or by how social media content is configured around said celebrities (Marwick and boyd 2011). Fandom activities do not involve monetary compensation but are dependent on dedication based on the amount of affection and/or interest the fan has; some indulge on a more casual basis while others would work hard at raising the status and popularity of the celebrity.