Advertisement<\/header>\n<\/aside>\nBarely 24 hours after Malaysia\u2019s former prime minister Najib Razak was carted off to Kajang Prison in Selangor to begin his 12-year prison sentence for corruption, his supporters have started issuing calls for him to be pardoned by the king.<\/p>\n
The 69-year-old ex-leader, who was in office from 2009 until his shock ouster at the general election of 2018, was jailed on August 23 after losing his final appeal in a case linked to the massive looting of the 1MDB state investment fund. The verdict, which involved Najib\u2019s theft of around $10 million from SRC International, a unit of 1MDB, has been hailed in Malaysia as a major step toward accountability for pilfering of the state fund.<\/p>\n
As The Associated Press reported, around 300 of Najib\u2019s supporters, mostly dressed in black, rallied briefly outside the national palace in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, calling for the king to pardon the former leader. The protesters repeated Najib\u2019s claim that he didn\u2019t receive a fair trial because the Federal Court dismissed his allegations of judicial bias, and repeatedly refused to delay the hearing to give his lawyers time to prepare.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to request for a full pardon to be given immediately to this person who has served honorably,\u201d said Syed Mohammad Imran Syed Abdul Aziz, a member of Najib\u2019s United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and president of the group that organized the protest, Reuters reported. \u201cHis service and contributions have been torn apart in a humiliating way.\u201d Protesters also urged UMNO, which returned to power last year after defections caused the collapse of the reformist government that won the 2018 general elections, to push for a pardon.<\/p>\n\n\nDiplomat Brief<\/h3>\nWeekly Newsletter<\/h4>\n N<\/i><\/header>\n\n
Get briefed on the story of the week, and developing stories to watch across the Asia-Pacific.<\/p>\n
Get the Newsletter<\/span>\n \n<\/svg><\/i><\/div>\n<\/aside>\nThe protests are an indication that with Najib\u2019s hopes of a legal challenge now exhausted, his best remaining hope of an early release is to mobilize his base and generate public pressure for a royal pardon. (Legal experts say that Najib must file a petition for a pardon within 14 days or lose his post as a parliamentarian.)<\/p>\n
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Yesterday\u2019s rally, while relatively small, offered a preview of the political fight that is likely to unfold alongside the run-up to the general election that is due to be held by September 2023. Despite losing his appeal, the question of Najib\u2019s fate \u2013 and whether he serves his full 12-year sentence \u2013 has now been shunted into the political arena, where the former PM retains considerable influence. His camp is likely to play heavily on the alleged unfairness of the case, and capitalize on the fact that King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, who holds Malaysia\u2019s rotating post of monarch, is from Najib\u2019s home state of Pahang and reportedly knows him well.<\/p>\n
The battle lines over Najib\u2019s carceral fate are already being drawn. With calls for a royal pardon now being aired by his supporters, the electoral watchdog Bersih yesterday launched an online petition urging the king to let Najib serve his sentence, and arguing that he had been granted a fair trial.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith all our hearts, we appeal to Your Majesty to consider our request to deny any appeal for a pardon by Najib, who has brought shame to this country,\u201d states the petition, which had been signed by more than 30,000 people as of yesterday. Even if Najib has no shame for what he has done, we the rakyat <\/em>[people] have to live with the indignity of being known for the world\u2019s largest case of kleptocracy.\u201d More than 30,000 people had signed the petition as of yesterday.<\/p>\n\nAdvertisement<\/header>\n<\/aside>\nIt is currently unclear whether UMNO will push hard for a pardon. UMNO party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, formerly Najib\u2019s deputy, said the party will continue to support Najib in the other court cases he faces to ensure he \u201cgets justice and is not a victim of political persecution.\u201d Zahid, who also faces corruption charges, said even though Najib is in prison, his \u201cfighting spirit\u201d to help the party rise again after defeat at the last general election \u201cstill burns strong.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, there are sound political reasons for Prime Minister Ismail Sabri to refrain from pushing for a royal pardon, at least in the short term. First, public anger at the 1MDB scandal, which helped fuel UMNO\u2019s defeat at the 2018 general election, remains considerable, and with a new election due sometime next year, he would not wish to taint his own administration, and possible chances of winning another term as prime minister, by association with the 1MDB scandal.<\/p>\n
Second, there are also internal factional rivalries that could weigh into how Ismail Sabri handles the issue. The prime minister is in a UMNO faction that is opposed to Najib\u2019s and could use his rival\u2019s situation to shore up his own power base. All this will ensure that the political battle over Najib\u2019s future will also play out within Malaysia\u2019s ruling party.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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