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With Najib Razak behind bars, could Malaysia’s corruption fight be winnable at last?
- For the first time ever, an ex-Malaysian PM is serving time in prison for a criminal offence – and Najib Razak still faces multiple other allegations
- Some see the verdict as just the ‘tip of the iceberg’ and a victory in the fight to clean up the country’s politics, but Mahathir’s not so sure
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Catharsis probably best sums up what many Malaysians felt on Tuesday, when disgraced former prime minister Najib Razak began serving a 12-year prison sentence after failing in his final appeal to overturn a corruption conviction linked to a former unit of scandal-tainted fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
The decision was a long time coming for Najib, who now holds the dubious distinction of being the country’s first former prime minister to be jailed for a criminal offence.
His case, involving the movement of 42 million ringgit (US$9.4 million) from former 1MDB subsidiary SRC International to his personal accounts, had kept many Malaysians on tenterhooks over four years of dramatic legal wrangling that were punctuated by numerous delays caused by everything from Covid-19 to injuries his lead counsel claimed to have suffered while playing with his dog.
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Former Malaysian PM Najib’s 12-year corruption conviction upheld over 1MDB scandal
Former Malaysian PM Najib’s 12-year corruption conviction upheld over 1MDB scandal
The public reaction to the verdict came in hard and fast on social media, and continued in the following days as Malaysians, angered by allegations of corruption funding the opulent and big-spending lifestyle enjoyed by Najib and his family for years, felt vindicated by the apex court’s ruling.
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“National rogue,” said @Hasif225, retweeting a picture of Najib, who appeared to be in handcuffs, being escorted by prison wardens to a Kuala Lumpur court on Thursday for a separate trial dealing directly with 1MDB.
Critics and the opposition were quick to declare the verdict a victory for the country and Malaysians in the fight against corruption and abuse of power, which have long been blamed on Najib’s former ruling Umno party and the Barisan Nasional coalition that it leads.
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who himself had spent two separate stints in jail for corruption and sodomy – charges that he and his supporters maintain were politically motivated – said the decision by voters to remove Najib and Umno from power in the 2018 national election was a turning point in the fight against corruption.
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