Zahid said the coalition’s enemies, who were rejoicing over Najib’s imprisonment, would be disappointed as the former prime minister and Pekan MP remained popular with Malaysians.

“BN continues to progress. Najib’s contributions are still held in high regard by the community. This, in turn, will spur the people’s confidence and trust in BN heading into the 15th general election (GE15),” he said in a Facebook post.

The opposition was trying to tarnish Najib’s “good name” even when the latter was in prison but this would not work, the Umno president said.

“They’re overlooking the main thing about ‘Bossku’. As Najib has explained, the real ‘Bossku’ are the people,” he added.

Najib began serving his 12-year jail sentence on Aug 23 after the Federal Court upheld his conviction and sentence over his SRC International corruption case.

In March, Zahid had credited BN’s landslide win in the Johor state election to Najib, describing the former prime minister as the “real campaign manager” for the coalition.