Dennis Ignatius
~ Provoking discussion, dissent & debate on politics, diplomacy, human rights & civil society.
Anwar, Najib & the betrayal of trust
10FridayJan 2025
Posted in corruption, justice, Malaysia, Politics
[1] After months of denial and deception, it is now confirmed that the purported addendum allowing convicted former prime minister Najib Razak to serve his sentence under house arrest instead of a prison does indeed exist.
[2] But that’s not the end of the story. After months of silence, the home Affairs minister quickly clarified that there was no mention of house arrest in the official minutes of the pardons board, leaving the impression that the addendum was perhaps an afterthought and of questionable legality. The federal territories minister and the AG (who both sit on the pardons board) as well as the law minister have all stayed silent thus far. Expect yet more court drama, denials, intrigue and political turmoil.
[3] It’s a colossal mess of course but one that is entirely of the prime minister’s making. Instead of taking a strong principled stand, he played fast and loose on the pardons issue – seeking to mollify UMNO (a key coalition partner) by pushing a partial pardon for Najib while trying not to provoke a public outcry. Then the unexpected happened – an addendum allowing Najib to serve his remaining sentence under house arrest surfaced. Knowing that there would significant public opposition, he obfuscated and prevaricated for months, refusing to either confirm or deny the existence of the addendum. Now it has all backfired on him in spectacular fashion.
[4] The whole affair has left the electorate exasperated and angry. Confidence in his leadership is at an all-time low. He is seen as someone so obsessed with staying in power that nothing is off-limits. For many, the pardons issue is the final act of betrayal of the reform agenda that brought him to power. The string of broken promises in his wake is now far too many to gloss over. Increasingly, he’s beginning to look like a one-term prime minister.
[5] Other political leaders have behaved no better. Najib seems to have brought out the worst in them. With few exceptions, they have shown themselves to be unprincipled and conniving. They couldn’t see past their own ambitions. They shifted their positions, they hid the truth, they kept silent when duty and honour demanded they speak out. They have turned out to be the worst bunch of dishonourable hypocrites the nation has ever seen in the corridors of power.
[6] They say that justice must not only be done; it must be seen to be done. Here we have a former prime minister who stole billions and betrayed the nation; a man who was convicted by eight of nine judges at three different levels of the judiciary and sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment. And that was for only the first of several cases against him. Indeed, on the same day he was pursuing his house arrest appeal in one court, he was in another court to answer even more serious charges – 25 counts of using his position to obtain RM2.28 billion gratification from 1MDB funds.
[7] That we are even talking about a pardon while all these cases are still going on is itself an indication of just how dysfunctional our politics has become. For such a man – a man who has neither repented nor made restitution for his crimes – to be shown any kind of clemency is not mercy but favouritism. It tells Malaysians that there’s a different set of laws for those with money, connections and the right pedigree.
[8] Worse still, by mollycoddling Najib and glossing over his guilt, Anwar might now have put Najib on a path to a full pardon and perhaps even cleared the way for him to return to the prime minister’s office when the term of the current government ends in 2027. With all his looted millions intact, he could emerge as a powerful political figure in a country where cash is king.
[9] Our politicians can whitewash the corruption of Najib Razak and his henchmen, they can pretend he’s a victim of some conspiracy, they can highlight his pedigree and exaggerate whatever good he did while in office but at the end of the day, he will be remembered for his great crimes and the great shame he brought our nation. No addendum will ever change the fact that he’s a convicted criminal, a thief and a charlatan. He may have gamed the system to his benefit and escaped the punishment he deserves but he will not so easily escape the verdict of history. And neither will Anwar Ibrahim.
[Dennis Ignatius |Kuala Lumpur | 10 January 2025]
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