In Malaysia, Umno’s calls to free Najib risk fracturing Anwar’s unity government as first election test looms

The Malaysian PM’s uneasy alliance with rivals Umno will soon face its first real electoral test in 6 statewide polls seen as a barometer of support

Analysts say no good can come from pardon chatter for corrupt ex-leader Najib, even as they warn Anwar needs Umno’s pro-Malay platform to ‘survive’

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Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim risks alienating his own base if he backs calls for Najib Razak’s pardon - and angering Najib supporters within Umno if he does not. Photo: Bernama/dpa

Published: 9:30am, 25 Jun 2023

Calls to secure a royal pardon for Malaysia’s disgraced former prime minister Najib Razak reverberated this month through the halls of Umno headquarters, where his party’s leaders and delegates gathered for their annual general assembly to discuss preparations for a clutch of coming state elections.

The speeches over the four-day meet were effusive. To an outsider looking in, it seemed the party that had ruled Malaysia for six straight decades saw its future deeply intertwined with that of a corrupt ex-leader, who became the first in the country’s history to be jailed for his crimes when he began serving a 12-year sentence last August for his part in plundering the collapsed 1MDB sovereign wealth fund.

In the months since, Umno has gone grovelling to the king in search of a full pardon for Najib, who was found guilty in 2020 of criminal breach of trust and money laundering after 42 million ringgit (US$9 million) from former 1MDB subsidiary SRC International conveniently found its way into his personal accounts.

Both he and his supporters maintain his innocence and say the charges were politically motivated.

Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Umno president and Malaysia’s deputy prime minister, told his party’s recent general assembly that its stance on wanting “justice for Najib” would not change. Photo: AFP

“We are here, and he is there [in prison], but I believe his spirit is here with us,” party president and Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told a packed hall during his policy speech at the start of the general assembly.

“The Umno supreme council has made a resolution, and our stand will not change. We want justice for Najib,” he was quoted as saying by local English newspaper New Straits Times.