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Anwar and PH heading for political doom?
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 3, 2024: Malaysia must hold the next 16th General Election by 2027.
And Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and his Pakatan Harapan (PH)-led and so-called Madani Unity Government (with the corrupt Barisan Nasional, read as Umno) are already digging their political graves?
Unbelievable and rubbish?
Just read the news analysis by Sui-Lee Wee, The Times Southeast Asia bureau chief, overseeing coverage of 11 countries in the region.
It is such a precise and no-holds-barred superb news analysis or round-up worth reading and worth reproducing below. We also reproduce what Singapore’s Straits Times is reporting about the partial pardon:
On the verge of political collapse?
*The Point of No Return for Pakatan Harapan*
A partial royal pardon for Najib Razak – the biggest kleptocrat in the country (and possibly the world) – is just as egregious as a full pardon.
How could the Pardons Board halve Najib’s 12-year jail sentence to six years, when a case of petty theft of just RM22 from a tabung masjid is punishable with 10 years’ imprisonment? Najib was convicted of abuse of power, CBT, and money laundering over a whopping RM42 MILLION in the SRC International case.
The Pardons Board also gave Najib a 76% discount on his RM210 million fine by slashing it to RM50 million (which is just 19% more than the RM42 million he was convicted of stealing). What beggars belief further is the Board’s decision to merely impose one year’s jail if Najib fails to pay his discounted fine of RM50 million.
Without justification, the Pardons Board essentially deprived the State of Malaysia its dues of RM160 million (which could have funded 32 million Menu Rahmah meals, one for nearly each citizen!).
What was the Pardons Board’s rationale for halving Najib’s 12-year jail sentence and reducing his RM210 million fine by a whopping 76%? He has shown no remorse. It’s a travesty of justice to lighten his punishment for grand larceny. Over US$4.5 billion (RM21 billion) was stolen in the 1MDB scandal.
Whether or not the previous King had the sole discretion to commute Najib’s sentence is irrelevant because the Pardons Board was the gatekeeper; cases could only go up to the YDPA after a recommendation is made by the Pardons Board.
Why did the Pakatan Harapan (PH)-led government – which campaigned for years against the man branded by PH as a “kleptocrat”– expedite Najib’s pardon application to the King, instead of rejecting his application altogether since he has only served just over a year of his sentence so far?
In the case of a 42-year-old man named Affandi Abdul Rahim – who was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2001 for a firearm-related offence (he didn’t shoot anyone dead) back when he was aged 20 – his mother was still seeking a royal pardon for her son last year, more than two decades after Affandi was sent to prison.
The Pardons Board’s act in reviewing Najib’s punishment so early in his sentence – which then has to be acted on by the King – is the reason why I blame this fiasco entirely on the Madani government. The Pardons Board includes Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa and Attorney-General Ahmad Terrirudin Mohd Salleh, both of whom were appointed by the the government.
Najib’s partial pardon is an unforgivable perversion of the law that shattered the foundation of Malaysia’s criminal justice system, where every man is supposed to be equal under the law.
It doesn’t matter if there are other pending 1MDB-related cases against Najib. The outcome of those cases is far from guaranteed. The MACC, prosecutors, and the judiciary spent over seven years on the SRC International case, from when investigations began in 2015 until Najib was sent to jail in August 2022. Najib’s commuted sentence of six years is shorter than that, and he may even get out as early as January 2025 for good behaviour, according to a lawyer.
The government spat in the faces of thousands of Malaysians who risked police harassment to protest on the streets against Najib in two Bersih rallies in 2015 and 2016.
The government spat in the faces of anti-graft investigators, whistleblowers, and journalists who risked threats to their lives and livelihoods to reveal the truth about 1MDB. The police even arrested MACC officers during MACC’s SRC International investigation in 2015, while two publications by The Edge were suspended. The Malaysian Insider shut down later in 2016.
The government spat in the faces of millions of voters who risked stepping out of their comfort zone to vote for PH – in 2018 and again in 2022 – in support of PH’s (former) ideals of fighting corruption.
Najib’s partial pardon cannot be excused as realpolitik. Najib was a red line that should never have been crossed. Every single MP who forms the Madani government is responsible for this fiasco.
And PH, this isn’t just about you. You may have forgiven your political enemies now that you’re in power, but you forget that millions of Malaysians fought side by side with you, moving mountains to get a former prime minister incarcerated – against all odds – for robbing the country blind.
The struggle was not PH’s alone. Najib only ended up behind bars because of the power of the people – from courageous MACC investigators and journalists, to ordinary men and women who dared to defy a ban on yellow shirts to march the streets in protest of the 1MDB scandal.
Some of us cannot, will not, and should not be expected to let this betrayal go. And don’t you dare cudgel us over the head with the nebulous threat of Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) religious fundamentalism. Pardoning Najib had nothing to do with PN.
The PH-BN government under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim made a deliberate choice to recommend reducing Najib’s sentence, even though taxpayers are still paying and will continue to pay the price (in US dollars) for his global-scale crimes until 2039.
In joining the side of kleptocrats, PH crossed the Rubicon – but for what?
When Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon River in 49 BCE, it was with righteous intention to correct what he perceived was wrong with the Roman Republic. While he was dictator, Caesar implemented many reforms for the people.
PH, on the other hand, passed the point of no return not to save the country at great personal risk, but to get a crook freed early just to protect their positions of power and privilege in Putrajaya.
With one swoop of a pen to recommend partially pardoning the symbol of global multi-billion dollar kleptocracy, PH irrevocably destroyed not only its own identity (beyond its reputation), but all hope for Malaysian democracy. PH supposedly “saved” Malaysia from Najib, only to return to Najib.
Drop the word Harapan from your name, Pakatan Harapan. You can no longer call yourself that. I don’t even know who or what you are anymore. Who are you?
When the 16th general election comes around in a few years’ time, we do not have to play the binary game forced upon us of choosing the lesser of two evils. Opting out is an option when the political and democratic process is rigged to favor elites. Getting elected is your problem; it’s not mine.
Don’t ever try to emotionally blackmail us again by citing the potential destruction of the future of our children and grandchildren if we abstain from voting or if we vote for your opponent. You already destroyed this country and future generations, all by yourself. Anwar and PH, this is your legacy.
Boo Su-Lyn is writing in her capacity as an ordinary voter from KL.
February 2, 2024
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*Malaysia Reduces Sentence of Najib Razak, Disgraced Ex-Prime Minister*
_His release has been set for August 2028 and his fine reduced to a quarter of its original amount, a move that has drawn criticism from observers and citizens._
*_By Sui-Lee Wee and Tashny Sukumaran / New York Times /Feb. 2, 2024_*
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/02/world/asia/malaysia-reduces-sentence-najib-razak.html
The authorities in Malaysia have halved the sentence of Najib Razak, a former prime minister convicted of stealing millions of dollars from a government fund, a move that has triggered outrage in the country.
*_The leniency for Mr. Najib comes after weeks of speculation in Malaysia that he might be pardoned by King Sultan Abdullah, whose tenure under Malaysia’s unique rotational monarchy ended on Tuesday. But many analysts had said it was unlikely that Mr. Najib, who has served only 17 months of his term, would receive any form of clemency because he is still facing three continuing criminal cases related to what is known as the 1MDB scandal._*
On Friday, Malaysia’s Pardons Board said that Mr. Najib, who began a 12-year sentence in 2022, will instead be released in August 2028 and his fine reduced to $11 million, a quarter of the previous fine. But according to Malaysian law, he could be released even earlier, in August 2026, if he applies for parole after serving half of his term.
The announcement spurred a wave of anger over what many Malaysians said was a culture of impunity among the country’s top officials. Much of the money that disappeared from the 1MDB fund has yet to be recovered. In September, a court suddenly dismissed 47 embezzlement charges filed against Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the deputy prime minister.
The decision is likely to reignite questions about the rule of law in Malaysia. It is also likely to increase the public’s disillusionment with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who entered office on an anti-corruption platform but who critics say has made too many compromises, like the alliance with Mr. Ahmad, to stay in power.
*_Wong Chin Huat, a professor in political science at Sunway University in Malaysia, said the lack of transparency and accountability in Mr. Najib’s case was “undermining public confidence in our justice system and political system, and international businesses’ confidence in Malaysia’s investment environment.”_*
*_Mr. Wong also questioned whether Mr. Najib deserved this leniency, adding: “Has he even admitted his guilt and offered an apology?”_*
Other analysts saw the decision as a carefully calibrated compromise that would allow both the pro-Najib and anti-Najib camps to feel that they had notched a win.
*_“As long as it is neither a full pardon nor a full sentence, both camps can draw some comfort from the fact that it could be worse,” said Francis E. Hutchinson, the coordinator of the Malaysia Studies Program at the Singapore-based ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute._*
As such, Mr. Hutchinson said, any fallout should be limited as long as Mr. Najib’s subsequent legal cases were allowed to proceed.
The first allegations against Mr. Najib appeared in news reports nearly a decade ago. Malaysians — though long accustomed to graft by high-ranking officials and politicians — were shocked to learn that the premier had funneled $700 million from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad fund, or 1MDB, a government investment fund, to his personal bank accounts.
Infuriated citizens took to the streets to demand Mr. Najib’s resignation. The scandal also upended politics in the 2018 election when voters cast Mr. Najib out of office — the first time in Malaysia’s independent history that his political party, the United Malays National Organization, or U.M.N.O., had lost in national elections.
The U.S. Department of Justice later found that Mr. Najib and a mysterious tycoon, Jho Low, had diverted $4.5 billion from the fund to finance an American film company that produced “The Wolf on Wall Street”; purchase a superyacht; and support the lavish lifestyles of Mr. Najib, Mr. Low, and Mr. Najib’s wife, Rosmah Mansor.
In 2017, the then-U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions called the 1MDB case “kleptocracy at its worst.”
In 2020, Mr. Najib was found guilty on seven counts of corruption. It was a watershed moment in Malaysian politics; no top leader had ever been convicted before, and the courts were lauded for establishing their independence from politics. He started serving his prison sentence in August 2022 after his appeals failed.
Despite Mr. Najib’s conviction, he is still influential within U.M.N.O., whose members now make up part of Mr. Anwar’s government. The party retains considerable support among ethnic Malays, the majority, who benefited during Mr. Najib’s nine-year rule and whom Mr. Anwar is now trying to court.
*_The United Malays National Organization has long said that the case against Mr. Najib was politically motivated, and his supporters have always expressed hope that he would get out of prison and revive his political career._*
Sui-Lee Wee is the Southeast Asia bureau chief for The Times, overseeing coverage of 11 countries in the region.
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Singapore's Straits Times:
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