by Our Foreign Desk

MALAYSIAN Prime Minister Najib Razak has shrugged off mass rallies calling for his resignation, claiming yesterday: “The rest of the Malaysian population is with the government.”

Vast crowds gathered over the weekend in the streets of Kuala Lumpur wearing the yellow shirts of the Bersih movement, which campaigns for electoral reform. The protesters accuse the premier of corruption.

The group estimated the size of the rallies as 200,000 on Saturday and 300,000 on Sunday, while police put the number at 25,000.

Mr Najib evidently preferred the police estimate, asking reporters: “What is 20,000? We can rally hundreds of thousands.”

The PM has presided since 2009 over what he terms Malaysia’s “new economic model” involving cuts to fuel and food subsidies and massive financial deregulation to allow foreign firms to buy bigger stakes in publicly traded companies.

US banks Goldman Sachs and Citigroup have been the biggest beneficiaries.

The drive for foreign direct investment was spearheaded by state-owned company 1MDB, which existed to “forge international partnerships” with foreign firms.

Leaked documents in July showed that Mr Najib had received 2.6 billion ringgit (£400 million) in payments from entities linked to the public-sector company.

Since then he has fired his deputy and four cabinet ministers for questioning the payments and sacked the attorney general, who was investigating him.

Malaysia’s Anti-Corruption Commission has cleared him of wrongdoing, saying the money came from unspecified “donors” and was not embezzled.

But tens of thousands on the streets have vowed to camp out until the prime minister steps down.