Will PMX be a one-hit wonder?

Malaysia’s 10th Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim and his motley crew of coalition political partners came into power on a wave of hope, promises of reforms, removing restrictive laws and giving a fair go for everyone. After a series of horse trading, sometimes almost comical negotiations, Malaysia’s king, Al- Sultan Abdullah ibni Sultan Ahmad Shah appointed Anwar Ibrahim Malaysia’s 10th Prime Minister on the 24th of November 2022. There was hope; there was a general feeling of euphoria and relief that the political quagmire Malaysia had fallen into after six decades of abuse, corruption, and apathy had come to an end. The world’s biggest kleptocrat, Najib Razak, was safely locked away in Kajang Prisons after being found guilty by nine senior and experienced judges, and everything was ready for a fresh start. However, a series of disturbing events and inexplicable moves by the authorities have not just rattled domestic analysts but confounded international observers and industry players.

The Bizarre Najib Dilemma

It is now becoming incomprehensible and even “bizarre” how and why Anwar and Umno seem to be bent on freeing former Prime Minister Najib Razak from prison and allowing him to spend the remaining of his already halved sentence at home. Al-Sultan Abdullah ibni Sultan Ahmad Shah had, in his clemency decree, while chairing the Pardon’s Board meeting cut Najib’s jail sentence to six years and his fine to RM50 million. But now, there is a discovery of an addendum that says that the felon could spend the rest of his reduced sentence at home. The king, by convention, acts on the advice of the government in such matters, but there is debate whether he has an absolute and final say in the matter. It is assumed that as Chairman of the Pardons Board, the king acts on the government's advice of the day, in this case, the PH coalition. The move has rattled not just the Pakatan Harapan support base but also the average Malaysian as well. Najib was found guilty of swindling the nation’s coffers through the 1MDB debacle and flitted away billions of ringgit. Umno, which is part of the Unity Government, dubbed after a loose coalition was cobbled, has been spearheading the charge to free Najib despite being found guilty of abuse of power and criminal breach of trust. The question most Pakatan Harapan supporters must be asking is how a convicted felon who almost drove the nation to bankruptcy can hold so much sway with a government and Prime Minister, they helped put into power? A coterie of Umno members, who are die-hard Najib supporters, obstinately believe that Najib was merely a scapegoat, and the real mastermind of the 1MDB debacle was Jho Lo, an acquaintance and "advisor" to the former prime minister and finance minister. Shahril Hamdan, former Umno Information head honcho, is serving a six-year suspension from the party believes that the “Umno psyche embraces the narrative of a man wronged, now returning from the abyss to revive his party while personally recording a triumphant and utterly improbable comeback.”

Asset to Liability

Najib is being seen as an invaluable asset to Umno’s future political fortunes after he was deemed to be the force that led to the fall of the first Pakatan Harapan government in 2018 after leading a series of unprecedented by-election victories, using the “Bossku” moniker, successfully in what most advertising executives would describe it as the ‘perfect ad campaign’. Despite his successful electioneering and political wheeling and dealing, his fortunes at court were a dismal failure, culminating in his guilty verdict and 12-year jail sentence and a fine RM210 million. Najib, despite the conviction, employed a sophisticated and colourful campaign that rebranded himself, calling himself “Bossku,” the Malay equivalent of Robin Hood, the celebrated English thief who is said to have stolen from the rich only to give the loot to the poor because of unfair taxes. But as his trials progressed to appeals and higher courts, it became clear that Najib was no asset but a liability, not just to Umno but also to the entire nation. The reality of everyday burdens, the perceptible rise in the cost of living, the jobless numbers among youth, especially Malay youth and the rising household debt and putting three meals on the table, a nightmare, all took the shine from Najib as the facts of the 1MDB debacle unravelled in open court. Except for a few die-hard fans, the rest of the nation was relieved that there was a final closure to the haunting episode of Malaysia’s history.

Final Throw of the Dice

But Najib is a force that cannot be discounted. Mounting challenge after challenge, his final throw of the dice was applying for a Royal Pardon, of which the then-prevailing king, the Sultan of Pahang, the state Najib and his family hail from, was chairman of the Board. Najib’s gamble paid off, sort of. The Pardon’s Board discounted his jail time by six years and reduced his fine from RM210 million to RM50 million. One wonders which prime minister in the world can afford to pay a fine of RM50 million! The Board’s decision did not go down well with the Malaysian public, and many Umno members were unhappy that Najib did not receive a full pardon. Najib’s legal team then pulled a dramatic surprise that alleged that there was an attached addendum that granted the former prime minister house arrest for the remaining of his jail time. This matter is now the subject of a court review, the proceedings of which bar news coverage.

Anwar’s Dilemma

Disillusioned by Anwar Ibrahim’s failure to keep promises, reforms and change, his support base, to say the least is wobbling to Umno’s tune with this new and sudden revelation to Najib’s pardon. While it is convention and customary that the Chairman of the Pardon’s Board, who is the king, takes advice from the government, Anwar insists that the decision was entirely the king’s alone to grant the partial pardon, insisting that commentators were ignorant of the Federal Constitution. If this is true, this would be a first for a constitutional monarch. Anwar now faces a terrible Malaysian dilemma. He does not want to be a one-term prime minister like his three predecessors. After that humongous struggle from prisoner to prime minister, he needed a second term to prove that he was the statesman the nation missed in the past to set this nation right. PMX or Anwar and his Cabinet must explain why the contents of the addendum were not revealed in the Pardon’s Board final decision at the beginning. If indeed such an addendum does exist, why were its contents kept away from the public and even from Najib? Does it mean that if it exists, the government and Pardon’s Board disagreed with the royal decree in granting Najib house arrest in lieu of jail time? These questions, among the others, may well result in Anwar’s worst nightmare: A one-hit wonder PMX.