The rumor that the previous king of Malaysia, Abdullah, was going to say goodbye with a pardon to Najib Razak, has been half confirmed. This Friday, the imprisoned former prime minister has seen his sentence reduced from twelve years to six, by the royal committee for remission of sentences. Likewise, his fine of 220 million ringgit has been reduced to 50 million (almost 10 million euros). In this way, the corrupt former ruler, behind bars since August 2022, could be released from prison in 2028. A year later if he does not pay the fine.
The Islamist politician governed Malaysia between 2009 and 2018. Following his fall from grace is the sovereign fund that he helped create, 1MDB, with the collaboration of Saudi princes or the Goldman Sachs bank, with the supposed objective of reinvesting the profits in social development. that I was hoping to get. Among the fund's investments was, as a bad omen, The Wolf of Wall Street, among several Hollywood blockbusters.
Although the partial pardon has only been communicated today, Friday, it would have been agreed on Monday, the penultimate day of the reign of Sultan Abdullah, who on Wednesday handed over the throne for the next five years to his brother-in-law, the billionaire Sultan Ibrahim of Johor.
It should be noted that Najib was caught with bags of money at his home, containing nearly thirty million dollars. Along the way, the main Malaysian suspect in the plot, Jho Low, disappeared - his whereabouts remain unknown - and the State had to settle for underselling a seized superyacht. Meanwhile, more than €4 billion had disappeared into the sewers of tax havens, including transfers of nearly €1 billion to accounts allegedly controlled by Najib or his straw men.
The wife of the Malaysian nationalist politician, Rosmah Mansor, also managed to overshadow the legendary corruption of the former Filipino first lady Imelda Marcos - with her thousands of pairs of shoes - by having accumulated more than half a thousand haute couture bags. According to the testimony of several shop assistants, the woman would drop between 60,000 and 120,000 euros in one sitting, when she entered a boutique without clear ideas. Last year, she appealed after being sentenced to return 188 million euros for irregularities related to the construction of a solar plant.
The signs of corruption in the Najib family became so great that the man who had supported him politically, former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, returned to the political arena as an octogenarian "to ask for forgiveness", at the head of a new party, thus ending six decades. of hegemony of the National Organization of the United Malays.
It should be added that Najib Razak's mandate coincided with two air disasters that almost sank Malaysia Airlines. One, for the proven downing of flight MH17 Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur, over Eastern Ukraine. The other, due to the disappearance of flight MH370 between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing, with several hypotheses in this regard - including that of the demolition - without anyone being able or willing to solve the mystery for the families of those affected, mostly Chinese.
This Friday, the daughter of septuagenarian Najib Razak thanked him for the reduction in sentences, but stated that the family continues to believe in his innocence and that he deserved a full pardon. However, the majority of Malaysians do not share his opinion and the current Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, could be harmed by the grace measure. Although he can attribute the responsibility to the previous king, the truth is that, to form a parliamentary majority, he has had to make an agreement with Najib's political heirs, despite having won the elections fifteen months ago with an anti-corruption campaign.
Malaysia, with 34 million inhabitants, is one of the most prosperous countries in Southeast Asia, despite hidden tensions between the Muslim Malay majority, which dominates politics, and the Chinese minority, which dominates the economy. Tamil Indians also represent a significant percentage of the Malaysian population, over 6%, slightly less than in neighboring Singapore.
