I HAVE often wondered about the consequence if Datuk Seri Najib Razak is pardoned now – and once again found guilty and then sentenced to prison.
Would that mean a fresh appeal for pardon every time he is convicted – a serial application for a pardon?
Would UMNO launch multiple appeals for pardon each time Najib is found guilty? He still has a number of ongoing cases. There is a real possibility he might be convicted multiple times. What then will UMNO do?
Shouldn’t UMNO wait until all Najib’s cases are disposed of before appealing for a pardon? That would make sense!
Without thinking it through, UMNO has – with great zeal and zest – launched a campaign to seek a pardon for the world’s greatest kleptocrat. The party has seemingly the massive support of all its 191 divisions, including its women’s, youth and Puteri (young women’s) wings reflecting, as it were, the will of its 3.5 million members.
But make no mistake – it does not mean that it is the unanimous decision of the party to seek this pardon for Najib. It does not mean that there is no dissenting voice in UMNO. It does not mean that there is no abhorrence of corrupt acts committed by a person, irrespective of who the perpetrator is among its members.
The decision to launch a campaign can hardly be considered a unanimous decision – a majority decision, yes, but never a unanimous one!
Banking on a single dissenting verdict
There is no sympathy expressed in the campaign to seek a pardon for Najib who has been convicted after a thorough legal process. UMNO is just hooking on to the sole dissenting voice in the Federal Court’s judicial review: the dissenting judgment had observed that Najib did not receive a fair trial.
UMNO has conveniently forgotten that 13 other learned justices had found no grounds to sympathise with the opinion of this sole dissenting voice. But that did not matter to the party. It is acting like a drowning man clutching at a straw!
UMNO is neither bothered by the severity of Najib’s crime nor that the crime was committed against the country. If you love your country, how can you ignore this unpardonable crime against your own country?
It didn’t bother UMNO leaders that Najib had burdened the country with his greed by looting the national coffers and that he had almost bankrupted the country.
These UMNO leaders argue that if Anwar Ibrahim could receive a royal pardon, why can’t Najib? But they don’t disclose all the facts about Anwar who spent 10 years in prison before he was pardoned. In 2015 and 2017, Anwar’s appeal for a pardon was rejected twice. He was only pardoned in 2018 after spending three years in prison.
Others too had to mark time in prison before they were pardoned – like the late UMNO politician Datuk Mokhtar Hashim who was sentenced to death in 1983. He was given an amnesty to life imprisonment the next year. In 1991, he was pardoned and released after nine years in prison.
Then there was the case of former Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Sero Harun Idris who was convicted and imprisoned in 1977 and was only pardoned in 1982 – five years later.
Royal pardon to save UMNO
In Anwar’s case, his party PKR never sought his pardon. It was the then PM’s appeal (Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad) that secured him this pardon. But it was not the sole effort of the PM. The PM merely heeded Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) manifesto which included the release of Anwar.
Upon winning the 2018 general election, the then incoming PM appealed for Anwar’s pardon which had been endorsed by the nation when a majority of voters gave their mandate to PH and kicked out Barisan Nasional (BN)!
In contrast, Najib has been in prison for just over seven months. He has shown neither remorse nor repentance, let alone contriteness for his heinous crime and dastardly act against his own country to deserve any consideration for a pardon.
This did not matter to UMNO. Having launched its campaign to seek a pardon for Najib, the UMNO supreme council is following through this by seeking a royal audience to present a memo asking for Najib to be pardoned.
These UMNO leaders are putting a lot of pressure on the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (YDPA) – which is totally unfair and uncalled for. They are impatient to seek Najib’s pardon as soon as possible, notwithstanding that a common felon has to wait for four years before seeking a pardon.
They are not even following the proper procedure. Is there a provision for a political party to seek such a pardon? The Prison Act does not disclose this privilege. All we know is that the criminal himself or his family or his lawyer or the Prison Department could submit an appeal for a pardon. Why doesn’t the same rule apply in Najib’s case?
The simple fact in this situation is that there is no appeal for pardon provided for under the law. Najib had not appealed, neither had his family or his lawyer. Technically, there is no appeal for a pardon for the Pardons Board to consider. So there is no need for the Pardons Board to reconvene or reconstitute to deliberate any appeal.
Najib is deemed UMNO’s saviour
In a court of law, when you are procedurally wrong, your case is thrown out on technical grounds. What happens in this case? Can you accept that the appeal for a pardon has followed the procedure? Or should the conclusion be that no such appeal had been submitted?
Nothing but sheer political opportunism is at play. This campaign is launched not to save Najib but to save UMNO. UMNO is in the doldrums with no charismatic leader who is untainted by corruption to lead the party in the next general election.
Obviously, UMNO’s future is very bleak. The thinking is, Najib still has some support within the UMNO grassroots – much more than the present leaders have – and therefore he may be able to rescue UMNO from a total wipe out. If he is pardoned, then he would be able to participate in the next election and lead UMNO as a saviour.
A few signature campaigns on the issue of a pardon have been initiated. So far, the petition against a pardon, initiated by BERSIH, has elicited 153,426 signatures compared to a dismal 36,079 supporting a rival petition in favour of a pardon (ie less than a quarter of the number of signatories opposing a pardon).
The mood of the country is clearly against a pardon for Najib and this cannot be ignored. In a democratic situation, this majority sentiment must prevail. Najib doesn’t deserve a royal pardon and clearly doesn’t qualify to even be considered. – April 17, 2023
Ramakrishnan is the former president of ALIRAN, a reform movement in Malaysia promoting justice, freedom and solidarity. He remains in ALIRAN as a veteran columnist and committee member.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
