NAJIB TO BE FREED BY TODAY? - ALL EYES ON 'WOLF' ANWAR & DAP - RESULT OF NAJIB'S PARDON APPLICATION MAY BE ANNOUNCED - EVEN AS OUTGOING AGONG DEPARTS FOR PAHANG - IS ANWAR REGIME RECYCLING THE SAME TEMPLATE AS ZAHID'S DNAA DECISION BY OUTGOING AG?
Written by Stan Lee, Politics Now!
KUALA LUMPUR (Politics Now!) - In a sudden turn of events, typical of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's disorganized government where no one including ministers seem to know what's going on, former prime minister Najib Razak may be freed as early as by today.
According to the NST, The Pardons Board had scheduled a meeting for Monday (Jan 29), with perhaps the most important item on the agenda being Najib's 12-year jail term.
"As of today (Jan 28), I was informed that the meeting will take place [on Jan 29] but am not sure if it has been postponed again, as the meeting was postponed several times," Minister in the PM's Department Dr Zaliha Mustafa was reported as saying.
"What I can confirm is that the Pardons Board meeting will be chaired by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong."
TREMENDOUS BACKLASH BUT ANWAR TOO DESPERATE TO CARE?
According to the report, an announcement may be made later today as "apparently the board has come to a decision on the matter".
The meeting, which has been postponed several times, was the last to be officiated by Sultan Abdullah, the Malaysian King whose five-year constitutional term ends today.
Sultan Abdullah, who is also the monarch of Najib's home state of Pahang, is due to depart today and tomorrow Sultan Ibrahim, the ruler of Johor, will take over as the next King.
Rumblings over Najib's bid for a royal pardon has been surfacing of late. There are deep concerns that the embattled Anwar may advise the King to release Najib, a former Umno president who was his ally when he was still an Umno member. Even now, Najib's political support is seen as critical for Anwar's survival as PM.
"The backlash will be tremendous especially after Zahid's DNAA and Anwar stands to lose all credibility. But I believe his situation is quite dire and he may just do it to save himself. All eyes will then be on DAP, do they have any principles left? Will they stand for it or withdraw support as they have implied all this while that Najib's pardon will be their final straw," a pundit told Politics Now!
He was referring to DAP, a key partner in Anwar's Pakatan Harapan coalition which has been increasingly losing the respect of voters after closing an eye to the shock and sudden discharge of Zahid Hamidi from an already ongoing corruption trial.
SAME MODUS OPERANDI AS ZAHID'S DNAA - OUTGOING AG, OUTGOING AGONG?
Like Najib, Zahid too is a close ally of Anwar's from a friendship struck before Anwar was sacked as Umno's deputy president in 1998 over sodomy and corruption charges. Zahid, now the Umno president, was controversially granted a discharge from his corruption case by the outgoing Attorney-General last year. Public anger and disgust over the shock decision is still clouding Anwar and his regime's political fate despite an all-out bid to lay the blame on the AG Idrus Harun.
"Najib's release would make a mockery of everything the Pakatan said they stood for. It would prove what Daim has said that Anwar is a wolf in sheep's clothing and cannot be trusted," said the pundit, referring to former finance minister Daim Zainuddin, who had criticized Anwar a day ago.
Led by former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, the Pakatan coalition had finally toppled the hegemonic Umno in 2018 on an anti-corruption campaign that focused on Najib's multi-billion dollar 1MDB corruption debacle.
HUSH, HUSH ON NAJIB
No surprisingly, Anwar has tried to sidestep and keep under covers as much as possible the fate of Najib's royal pardon.
On Jan 10, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil insisted that Cabinet meetings had not touched on matters involving the Pardons Board, including Najib's case.
Fahmi also said that the Cabinet 'cannot supersede the process'.
Yet, Anwar is one of the Pardon Board members, as the Federal Territories fall under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister's Department.
Each Malaysian state has its own Pardons Board chaired by its respective Sultan or Governor.
The Pardons Board for each state is made up of five members, namely the Attorney General, the chief minister or menteri besar, and three other members appointed by the King or the ruler of the state.
The disgraced Najib was found guilty of corruption in connection with retirement fund KWAP's RM4 billion loan to SRC International, a former subsidiary of the controversial 1MDB wealth fund, as well as three counts of criminal breach of trust and abuse of power involving RM42 million of SRC funds.
Before Anwar became PM in 2022, Najib had the dubious distinction of being the country's first ever prime minister to be jailed. However, Anwar may now hold the record - having been convicted and sent to jail twice in 1999 and again in 2015 over two different cases of sodomy and corruption.
Najib's lawyers have been reported as saying they were unaware the Pardons Board was scheduled to meet yesterday. Lead lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told the NST that "no one was kept in the loop about the meeting."
Written by Stan Lee, Politics Now!
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