Veteran newsman A Kadir Jasin has suggested that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak be given a "safe passage" in order to save the country from ruin.

"Let’s give him a safe passage. Let's make it easier for him to leave," said Kadir in a blog posting last night.

"We have to ask ourselves, which is more important - putting him on trial for alleged corruption or saving the country?" he added.

Kadir said former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad ( photo ) wasn’t stating anything new when he said that Najib won’t leave because he is afraid of being arrested and charged.

He also cited the predicament of Zimbabwe, whose president Robert Mugabe has been in power for 35 years - the economy collapsing under him and the Zimbabwean dollar becoming a junk currency.

"Do we want him (Najib) to do the Mugabe by staying on at whatever cost while the economy heads towards the abyss? Or we allow him a safe passage?

"Let us put aside our thirst for his blood and set our focus on saving our country from ruin. The longer the current situation persists, the worse it is for us," Kadir rationalised.

Marcos ruined the Philippines

Kadir added that everyone knew that Najib would do all he could to stay put as prime minister.

This is despite putting a brave face at home and abroad.

"But deep in his heart he knows the moment he resigns or loses control of the Attorney-General's Chambers, the police, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and Bank Negara, he would be arrested and charged.

"We will all be damned by the future generations if we do nothing to stop this rot. We should be gravely concerned about our present and about the future of our children and grandchildren," Kadir stressed.

Pointing to the Philippines, Kadir said the neighbouring country used to be better than Malaysia.

"It took only one bad leader and his wife to ruin it. (Ferdinand) Marcos had long gone but the Philippines has never really recovered from what he and his wife did. They ruined the Philippines.

"Marcos ( photo ) and his free-spending wife, Imelda would not have left on that night of Feb 25, 1986 had the US not guaranteed them their safety and President Corazon Aquino had not allowed them free passage," Kadir pointed out.

Najib is currently facing increasing pressure to resign as prime minister, especially evidenced in the Bersih rally held in August which saw hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets primarily to showcase their unhappiness with the current administration.

Despite this, the premier however seemed set to stay put as prime minister.