To free or not to free: Prior compromises to UMNO leaves Anwar in a bind over Najib’s house arrest

KUALA LUMPUR – Attorney-General Dusuki Mokhtar may claim to be wanting to ensure the proper legality of Najib Razak’s house arrest bid but only the staunchest supporters of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim agree to this view.For the rest of Malaysia, the condition set by the Federal Territories Pardons Board on Sept 18 for the former prime minister to return to his palatial mansion in Kuala Lumpur was clear and simple: pay the RM50 million (S$15.7 million) fine.Nearly two months after that condition was set, the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) is now saying there could be two interpretations of the clemency decreed by the King, Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar of Johor. This is giving rise to the perception that Anwar and his ruling Pakatan Harapan (PH) are trying to find ways to circumvent the Pardons Board decision. UMNO leaders, Najib’s lawyers and the King himself have stated that any outcome other than Najib going home would be tantamount to disobeying a royal decree.AGC said the second interpretation is that having coughed up the RM50 million on Nov 6, Najib is now freed of the graft conviction related to SRC International, once a subsidiary of 1MDB from which billions of ringgit went missing when he was prime minister.The AGC further cites the Nov 6 discharge order from the High Court “ordering that Najib Razak be freed immediately but at the same time states that the remainder of his sentence be served under house arrest until Aug 23, 2028”.But if this is the case, then Najib must immediately start serving a subsequent 15-year sentence due to a separate 1MDB graft conviction in December 2025 involving RM2.3 billion. Yet, in October, the High Court surprisingly denied a stay of the sentence pending an appeal, deepening murmurs that political considerations are at play. This comes despite the government repeatedly insisting that it does not interfere in the judicial and prosecutorial process.Senior lawyers told The Straits Times that obtaining a stay of a criminal sentence pending an appeal would have been “nearly a given” in most cases asides violent crime such as murder and rape. They declined to be named as they did not want to be seen as questioning the judgeRoyal Malaysia policemen stand behind a police line outside of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak's house in Kuala Lumpur, on Nov 6. PHOTO: AFP“The AGC should have covered all these legal issues in the time since the Pardons Board decision nearly two months ago,” advisory firm Viewfinder Global Affairs’ managing director Adib Zalkapli told ST.“You cannot blame people for now believing there is a political agenda at play, creating ambiguity and confusion when the King himself has already made things crystal clear that Najib should be on house arrest once he pays the fine.”Costly political compromises?The Pardons Board’s halving of Najib’s 12-year SRC sentence in 2024 had already raised discontent among PH supporters given that Anwar’s coalition has long campaigned on an anti-graft platform and promised to bring the perpetrators of the 1MDB scandal to justice.Even if these commutations are exercises of royal prerogative, PH is suffering politically because of them. Democratic Action Party secretary general Anthony Loke, whose party has the most MPs in government, vowed to quit as Transport Minister the moment Najib trades Kajang Prison for his luxurious residence.Some might pragmatically view the Anwar administration’s contortions over Najib’s house arrest as a political necessity ahead of a general election due by February 2028 but now expected in six to 12 months.But there will be little sympathy from the broader electorate given how this wound is largely self-inflicted. After forming a so-called unity government of former bitter rivals following Malaysia’s first ever hung Parliament in 2022, Anwar decided to appoint UMNO president Zahid Hamidi, who was facing 47 graft charges, as his deputy.Instead of using the opportunity to push for a change in the political status quo, Anwar opted for business as usual. Government prosecutors then dropped the charges against Zahid.In the four years since taking power, Anwar has made a raft of concessions to UMNO. It is only recently that the government began reopening probes into old financial scandals involving government agencies when Najib was PM – after UMNO broke off its electoral pact with PH and partnered the opposition Parti Islam SeMalaysia beginning with the Johor state polls in July.Among Anwar’s early sops to UMNO, one episode stood out: He had personally expedited Najib’s appeal to the Pardons Board, a move that won him praise from some UMNO leaders.Perhaps these trade-offs helped keep Anwar in power despite several attempts by the opposition to woo members of the Anwar administration over the past three years.But like all compromises, they have come at a cost.In hindsight, these compromises was not the beginning of a reconciliation between PH and UMNO, but a brief respite – before battle lines were redrawn two years later with Anwar and company now scrambling to claw back support.Sign up for our weekly Asian Insider Malaysia Edition newsletter to make sense of the big stories in Malaysia.Shannon Teoh is The Straits Times’ bureau chief for Malaysia, where he has reported on various beats since 1998.