What next for Najib Razak?

In short, Najib’s fate and future depends on who is the prime minister post-GE15, and which party sits in Putrajaya. With the right ‘formula’, even an underaged rape victim can be arrested instead of the rapist being sent to jail.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

The Court of Appeal’s decision regarding Najib Tun Razak’s (SRC International) conviction has been delivered, and the three CoA judges have upheld the decision of the High Court. So now Najib will have to take his case to the Federal Court. And if he loses, yet again, he will have to go to jail and then try to get released via a Royal Pardon.

So far, four judges have ruled that Najib is guilty. Probably, five judges will sit at the Federal Court. Hence, if Najib loses again, that would be nine judges who have ruled against him. If Najib were able to get seven instead of five judges to sit at the Federal Court, and if he loses, it would be 11 judges against him.

You can fix one judge, or maybe even two, but to fix nine or 11 judges would be quite difficult. Hence most people, even Najib’s diehard supporters, would not doubt his guilt.

And herein lies the problem. Even if in the end Najib were able to get a Royal Pardon, that would not erase the fact that three courts involving nine (or 11) judges have ruled he is guilty. The Royal Pardon does not wipe out the guilt. It just spares him the long jail term and he gets out much earlier, maybe after just a year or two — like what happened to Anwar Ibrahim.

In Anwar’s case, the Prime Minister (at that time Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad) pushed for his pardon. In fact, the Pardons Board was merely a rubber stamp and did not really have much say in the matter. In a way, Anwar’s Royal Pardon was through a ‘kangaroo court’ of sorts because it did not follow the proper protocol and can be said to be an ‘illegal’ pardon.

So, is Anwar innocent? Not by a long shot. He is still guilty. He has just been ‘paroled’ so that he gets out of jail early. For all intents and purposes, Anwar is still a convict.

That would be Najib’s fate if he loses at the Federal Court and needs to resort to a Royal Pardon to walk out of jail.

Anwar was granted a Royal Pardon because that was what Dr Mahathir ‘rasuah’ him to get Pakatan Harapan to agree to allow him to become Prime Minister for two years (finally it was just 22 months).

So, PM’s post in exchange for Anwar’s backdoor Royal Pardon was mainly a horse-trade or win-win deal.

What if Pakatan Harapan did not win GE14 in May 2018?

Then Anwar would have to remain in jail until the end of his term. Hence it was because Umno-Barisan Nasional lost GE14 that Anwar was allowed to walk out of jail early.

In short, Anwar’s Royal Pardon was a political move, engineered to rasuah the opposition to support Dr Mahathir to get appointed as prime minister or PM7. If Pakatan Harapan did not win GE14, and if Mahathir did not become PM7, then Anwar would not have been granted a Royal Pardon.

The prosecution said Najib Tun Razak’s criminal charges were not politically motivated (READ HERE: Charges Against Najib Not Politically Motivated, Says Prosecution). That is not true. If Umno-Barisan Nasional had not lost GE14 in May 2018, Najib would not have been charged. He was charged because Umno-Barisan Nasional lost GE14, not because he allegedly stole RM42 million of SRC International’s money.

Many politicians have stolen money or received bribes. Some have even raped girls-women and/or boys-men. But they did not lose the election, so they were never charged.

For example, Anwar was arrested and charged for sodomy not because he was guilty of sodomy but because he tried to oust Dr Mahathir and lost. If he did not try to oust Mahathir, nothing would have happened to him.

Mahathir knew about Anwar’s lifestyle long before August 1998. But Mahathir did nothing because before that Anwar was Dr Mahathir’s ally. Only when Anwar stabbed Dr Mahathir in the back did he use that sodomy case to finish him off.

It is the same with Najib. If Najib had agreed to become Mahathir’s bitch, Umno-Barisan Nasional would not have lost GE14 and Najib would not have been charged for any crime. Pakatan Harapan did not win GE14. Umno-Barisan Nasional lost GE14. And they lost GE14 because Mahathir changed sides.

In fact, Mahathir can be said to be a katak. He left Umno-Barisan Nasional to join Pakatan Harapan merely so that he could oust Najib, not because he wanted reforms.

Umno-Barisan Nasional got defeated in GE14 because of Dr Mahathir. And because Umno-Barisan Nasional lost GE14 (because of Dr Mahathir), Najib was arrested and charged. As I said, Najib was arrested and charged not because he stole RM42 million of SRC International’s money but because Umno-Barisan Nasional lost GE14.

As Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Harun Idris once told the Umno Supreme Council, if the action being taken against him was really because of corruption, then everyone in that room would have to join him in jail.

So, yes, everything in Malaysia is about politics. Never mind whether it is Barisan Nasional, Pakatan Harapan, Perikatan Nasional, or whatever. Every action and every decision are politically motivated.

Issues involving Islam, the interests of the Malays, Chinese schools, Christianity, the ‘Allah’ word, opposing corruption, LGBT rights, freedom of speech, independence of the judiciary, separation of powers, free media, beer and liquor, beauty contests, accountability, transparency, good governance, Covid-19, vaccinations, SOP, EPF withdrawals, etc., are all about politics. And that is why nothing works in Malaysia.

So where does Najib go from here?

Well, his appeal hearing at the Federal Court will probably be after GE15. So Najib must make sure Umno-Barisan Nasional wins GE15. If Pakatan Harapan wins, then not only will Najib go to jail, but he will have to stay in jail and will not be granted a pardon.

Hence Umno-Barisan Nasional will need to do a deal or enter into an electoral pact with either Pakatan Harapan or Perikatan Nasional. If not, Umno-Barisan Nasional faces the risk of losing the election.

Some Umno people feel that the result of the recent Melaka state election is an indication that Umno-Barisan Nasional need not enter into any deal or electoral pact with either Pakatan Harapan or Perikatan Nasional, and that they can win GE15 on their own. If you look at the Melaka results properly, in terms of popular votes, that may not be entirely true, and it all depends on whether it is a straight fight or a multi-corner fight.

In short, Najib’s fate and future depends on who is the prime minister post-GE15, and which party sits in Putrajaya. With the right ‘formula’, even an underaged rape victim can be arrested instead of the rapist being sent to jail.