🇲🇾 Najib Razak is one step closer to going home

Hello friends!

An update from Malaysia this week where my head is spinning. A ‘rare win’ for Najib Razak, report some. Though it seems to me that that bloke wins plenty for a man who has been convicted repeatedly. 

Erin Cook

Najib Razak is one step closer to house arrest after the Court of Appeal on Monday allowed him access to a royal document. The ex-PM says the addendum order, issued last year when then-King Al-Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah halved his sentence, Reuters reports. The ruling overturns a lower court’s decision to bar Najib's access and will send it back to the High Court and we begin all over again. 

The ruling itself is some deep legal maneuvering that still needs to play out. But the show of support from the usual suspects is interesting enough in itself, I think. 

To rally or not to rally

Both police and the Palace knocked back applications over the weekend for Monday’s planned rally in support at the Court. For UMNO, Najib’s political home for decades, it was a chance to show off its royal-supporting bona fides when withdrawing: “As the only party consistently championing and upholding the institution of the Malay Rulers as enshrined in the Federal Constitution, Umno has always placed the utmost priority and respect for His Majesty the King,” party secretary-general Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki said in a statement. As noted below, this was not fully adhered to. 

In one of his tangents, former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad says the withdrawal by UMNO shows the party is subservient to DAP. Okay.  

It’s the dynamic with PAS that is more intriguing. PAS, the once too-fringe conservative party, has been encroaching in on UMNO’s Malay base for some time now. A noisy demonstration in support of Najib with no UMNO cadres around might be worth the slap on the wrist from police and the palace, PAS maths might have found. There could also be some internal tensions arising in UMNO Syaza Shukri of the International Islamic University Malaysia told FMT: “Umno warned its members against joining the gathering, but some attended in their personal capacity. They are torn between adhering to Umno’s stance and supporting the Malay agenda championed by PAS and Bersatu,” she said.

Going to work for Bossku

In one case that will surely wind up some hard questions (or should, at least!) hundreds of cadres from the Malaysian Indian Congress, a longtime supporter of Najib, gathered at the iconic Batu Caves’ Murugan Temple in support. ‘Hidup Bossku,’ they yelled. That familiar, humiliating refrain that refers to Najib as ‘My Boss’. Malaysiakini reports the party opted to hold a prayer session at the temple after ditching plans to attend the rally at the Palace of Justice. 

The warning may have worked on the MIC but not on thousands of others. PAS Secretary-General Takiyuddin Hassan and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia Deputy President Hamzah Zainuddin took seats in the hearing, while supporters gathered outside, the Straits Times reports with a few good snaps to accompany. For UMNO’s Selangor division chief, Arman Azha Abu Hanifah, police order be damned: “UMNO respects the royal institution and the police’s decision not to approve the rally. However, I am here as an individual and a friend of Najib to listen to the court’s decision.” 

Things I want to know now

I am completely, totally perplexed by the moving parts that have led us here. Najib was in court yesterday and referred to comments made last month by Prime Minister Anwar that some high-profile cases were “tainted by venom and enmity.” That’s about me, Najib told the court. Anwar has walked an odd line of stressing judicial independence but not standing by the findings of the courts. He dodged commenting on the Rosmah acquittal and has been fairly quiet so far this week. Okay, sure. But it’s very unclear what the lines are here. Malaysia has had undefined alliances ever since Najib lost the election, and Najib himself is another fault line. I want to know where this is heading — are we about to enter another period of realignment? 

Secondly, this PAS and UMNO beef is juicy. I’m increasingly interested in what this rivalry will mean for the broader conversation. We’re not looking at an election for years but I’m never not thinking of Malaysiakini’s beautiful Green Wave interactive from 2023.