Former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib bin Abdul Razak is a man of many names. From Bijan to Bossku to ’National Embarrassment’, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Pekan made history on 28 July 2020 for becoming the first former Prime Minister in Malaysian history to be found guilty of a criminal offence.
Not just for any misdemeanour offence, mind you. Najib Razak was convicted of 7 charges in the Kuala Lumpur High Court for the high profile SRC International trial that include offences for abuse of power, criminal breach of trust (CBT) and money laundering. In case the details of his sentence slipped your memory, Najib was sentenced to 12 years in jail and a whopping RM250 MILLION fine. Thankfully the Malaysian legal system allows for jail sentences to run concurrently as if not, the former Prime Minister faced almost a century in prison!
And that’s just for the SRC International trial too. The Pekan MP is also being charged for cases related to 1MDB and God knows how serious of a sentence he may face should he be found guilty.
Yet, despite the conviction, his staunch supporters are still backing up the Pekan MP and even backed Najib’s claim that he is just a victim of political persecution. In fact, due to his popularity on social media, many members of the public are also seemingly standing by his side.
Saying that Najib is a divisive figure has got to be the understatement of the century. One thing that’s not divisive is the recent judgment at the Court of Appeal for the SRC International case in which all the judges unanimously upheld the High Court’s decision in finding Najib guilty of the offences.
Hence, the question remains: How on earth can a convicted criminal STILL hold on to his Parliamentary seat and is walking around freely as nothing happened?
Well, as the old saying goes, justice is a slow and laborious process and despite being convicted in two separate court tiers for the SRC International case, Najib has still another face of appeal left, which is with the highest court of the land: the Federal Court.
Let’s examine all the relevant laws governing the disqualification of Members of Parliament to see why Najib is still allowed to hold on to his Pekan seat in the Dewan Rakyat, namely the Federal Constitution, the highest law of the land and the Elections (Conduct of Elections) Regulations 1981 below:
Article 48 of the Federal Constitution prescribes exactly the situation in which Najib Razak is currently facing which is the disqualification for membership of Parliament. Specifically, Article 48 (1) (e) is the most relevant to the Pekan MP’s situation, whereby it is stated that:
48. (1) Subject to the provisions of this Article, a person is disqualified for being a member of either House of Parliament if –
(e) he has been convicted of an offence by a court of law in the Federation (or, before Malaysia Day, in the territories comprised in the State of Sabah or Sarawak or Singapore) and sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less than one year or to a fine of not less than two thousand ringgit and has not received a free pardon;
However, despite the sentencing of the SRC International trial being above the RM2,000 fine and 1-year imprisonment threshold that Article 48 (1) (e) prescribes, Najib’s status as an MP is still secured due to a loophole within subsection 4 of Article 48 which states that:
(4) Notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing provisions of this Article, where a member of either House of Parliament becomes disqualified from continuing to be a member thereof pursuant to paragraph (e) of Clause (1) or under a federal law made in pursuance of Clause (2) –
(a) the disqualification shall take effect upon the expiry of fourteen days from the date on which he was-
(i) convicted and sentenced as specified in the aforesaid paragraph (e); or
(il) convicted of an offence or proved guilty of an act
under a federal law made in pursuance of Clause (2); or
(b) if within the period of fourteen days specified in paragraph (a) an appeal or any other court proceeding is brought in respect of such conviction or sentence, or in respect of being so convicted or proved guilty, as the case may be, the disqualification shall take effect upon the expiry of fourteen days from the date on which such appeal or other court proceeding is disposed of by the court; or
(c) if within the period specified in paragraph (a) or the period after the disposal of the appeal or other court proceeding specified in paragraph (b) there is filed a petition for a pardon, such disqualification shall take effect immediately upon the petition being disposed of.
Based on Article 48 (4)(b), if an MP appeals the sentence that has been given, he or she would only be disqualified 14 days after the court decides on the appeal. Hence, the controversial Pekan MP will remain as an MP up until his final appeal for his conviction has been exhausted, or if Parliament is dissolved.
However, should Parliament be dissolved within the time period before Najib’s appeal has been exhausted, he can no longer contest for any Parliamentary seat or even a seat at any State Legislative Assembly in Malaysia until he either wins the appeal to his sentencing or 5 years have passed after the sentence has been served.
This is according to subsection 5 of Article 48 of the Federal Constitution which states that:
5) Clause (4) shall not apply for the purpose of nomination, election or appointment of any person to either House of Parliament, for which purpose the disqualification shall take effect immediately upon the occurrence of the event referred to in paragraph (e) of Clause (1) or in Clause (2), as the case may be.
Therefore, as of the judgment at the High Court for the SRC International trial back in 2020, Najib is disqualified from being nominated or contesting in elections or being appointed into either of the two Houses of Parliament; the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara.
Furthermore, the Elections (Conduct of Elections) Regulations 1981 also bars Najib from contesting in any state or general elections through its regulation 7(d) which prescribes that objections may be made to a nomination paper should the candidate is disqualified from being a member under the provisions of the Constitution of Malaysia in the case of an election to the Dewan Rakyat or of the Constitution of the State concerned in the case of an election to a State Legislative Assembly.
So, based on the relevant laws concerning the matter, Najib has successfully defended his status as an MP despite having the additional status of being a convicted criminal to his name. He has been regularly attending Parliament during its various sittings since 2020.
Well, it is his duty as an MP after all, right? Though, shouldn’t he be ashamed to be attending Parliament as a convicted former Prime Minister? But then again, malu apa bossku?
Jamie is a content writer under Headliner by Newswav, a programme where content creators get to tell their unique stories through articles and at the same time monetize their content within the Newswav app.
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