On the 2nd of February 2023, Malaysians received disappointing news that Najib Razak received a partial pardon; his jail time has been halved and his fine has been reduced to RM50 mil from RM210 mil. Just to jog your memory, Najib is currently serving his 12-year prison sentence for graft linked to RM42 million from SRC International, a former subsidiary of troubled state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). He also faces another three ongoing criminal cases. The list of accusations includes money laundering, illicitly receiving millions of USD of 1MDB funds and committing breach of trust. As you can see, these are not minor offenses at all. Najib has exhausted all legal avenues of appeal and can only be released from prison by a royal pardon from our former King - Al-Sultan Abdullah. Here is why I think a FULL PARDON for Najib would have spelled doom for PMX.
1. PMX would lose the confidence of voters
Pakatan Harapan voters who voted for PMX in the last election would find themselves confused and angered at the decision to grant Najib a FULL PARDON. Bear in mind that Anwar and Pakatan Harapan have rallied against corruption, managing to use that platform to unseat the mammoth which is Barisan Nasional in the historic 2018 general election. To see a ‘U-turn’ on Najib's prison sentence would be akin to spitting on the face of Pakatan Harapan voters. There is no doubt that they will blame PMX for it which will lead to them not voting for PMX in the upcoming election in 2028.
Many are already angered at Zahid being discharged from 47 charges which include money laundering, criminal breach of trust and corruption. Maria Chin Abdullah, a prominent member of civil society criticised the decision as a “sad day for democracy”. Granting a FULL PARDON for Najib after Zahid's discharge would add insult to injury for a lot of Malaysians like Maria Chin Abdullah. Many netizens are already angered at the fact that Najib received a partial pardon, I can't imagine how they would react if he received a FULL PARDON.
2. May split UMNO into 2
As we all know Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is the current president of UMNO and the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia. With so much to lose, it is hard to imagine that Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is willing to go down without a fight. If Najib is fully pardoned, there is no doubt that he will start campaigning in the background to climb his way back up in UMNO. After all, the next internal polls for UMNO presidency is due in three years, about the time of the next general election (GE16).
This may cause a split in UMNO much like the showdown between Tengku Razaleigh and Dr.Mahathir in 1987. The showdown between the 2 led to the formation of Semangat 46 by Tengku Razaleigh. It is not difficult to see either Najib or Zahid Hamidi forming a new party following a split in UMNO. This may weaken the already weakened UMNO and might even lead to PMX's administration not surviving until the next election.
3. Strengthen Perikatan Nasional
For former Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, the prospect of Najib making a comeback will be music to his ears. An anomaly like a fully-pardoned Najib who can split UMNO could precipitate the fall of the PMX's government. He could court Najib to join his side (Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia a.k.a Bersatu) which may change the whole political scene.
Plus, at the moment, rumors abound that Muhyiddin Yassin and Abdul Hadi Awang are not on good terms as they have different opinions on who should be Perikatan Nasional's prime ministerial candidate. Thus, Perikatan Nasional has a crack at the moment but Najib might just be the one to patch that crack. In my opinion, the current opposition (Perikatan Nasional) doesn't have a strong opposition leader like Pakatan Harapan in the past with Anwar Ibrahim. But that might all change with Najib - there is still strong support for Najib in his home state of Pahang and on social media, one can see that many miss the days when bossku (Najib's nickname) was Prime Minister.
The reasons I listed are why I think that granting Najib a FULL PARDON would have spelled doom for PMX. Najib having his jail time halved and his fine reduced to a mere RM50 mil is a hard pill to swallow but swallow it, we must. At least it wasn't a FULL PARDON; the only thing we can be grateful for is that it wasn't a full pardon and that says a lot about the current state of our beloved nation.
Aaron Colt is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact Newswav.
