ByPhilip Heijmans
Malaysia’s rotating monarchy has played an outsized role in politics, helping determine the prime minister. Now the king may be ex-premier Najib Razak’s last chance to walk free for his crimes related to 1MDB.
Najib, 69, began serving time in prison from Tuesday after Malaysia’s top court upheld his 2020 conviction for corruption in relation to 1MDB, a troubled state fund from which billions were siphoned. The next day, 300 of his staunchest supporters gathered at the palace to formally ask King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah to grant Najib a pardon, claiming the judiciary had conflicts of interest.
Meanwhile, Najib’s opponents started an online campaign to persuade the king not to issue a pardon, arguing the sentence is a deterrent against corruption for future leaders. They collected nearly 100,000 online signatures in over two days.
Najib has yet to file a petition but if granted, this will end the 12-year prison sentence for the political heavyweight who has stayed popular with voters and commands influence within the ruling United Malays National Organisation. For the king, giving such a pardon poses a conundrum since it risks angering a wide segment of the population who want the court judgments respected.
“He needs to assess the current situation so as not to create discomfort among Malaysians as Najib has only just been imprisoned,” said Awang Azman Awang Pawi, an associate professor with the Academy of Malay Studies at University Malaya who has over 20 years experience in the field.
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Najib’s supporters gather outside the National Palace in Kuala Lumpur on Aug. 24.Photographer: Mohd. Rasfan/AFP/Getty Images
The case for a royal pardon, he said, becomes more difficult when Najib faces four other trials related to 1MDB, which has gone down in history as one of the world’s biggest financial scandals.
