While maintaining that Umno had never stopped pushing for Najib’s freedom, Nazifuddin Najib said its silence on the addendum order allowed PAS to appear the hero.
He was referring to PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan’s urgent motion for the Dewan Rakyat to discuss the purported order. The Kota Bharu MP had said failure to carry out the royal decree was treacherous and could cause a constitutional crisis.
“As the party president (Ahmad Zahid Hamidi) has said, some things can be talked about and some can’t be shared in public. But that’s where our enemies take advantage. When we delay, we appear weak and they get the chance to divide Umno, and that makes me sad.
“PAS used this issue at a moment when we were very sensitive about Najib (and the purported order), and they took advantage of it. It shows they can unite for Najib, their actual motives notwithstanding.
“But the public will see their actions, and that’s politics, it’s about perception. It’ll be as though Umno’s work for the past year was for nothing. When Takiyuddin (submits that motion), suddenly he becomes the hero,” Nazifuddin said on the “U Okay?” podcast published yesterday.
The Langkawi Umno chief also warned that this could backfire on Umno and the unity government in the next general election, saying people might remember PAS for its efforts to help Najib.
“The people will say, ‘I love Najib and they (PAS) are the ones championing him.’ So come election time who will they vote for?
“We in Umno will say that we’ve been fighting for (Najib’s freedom) from the start, that this has been the Supreme Council’s main goal. But that’s too late. The people are evaluating us now.”
Nazifuddin expressed hope that the Court of Appeal on Jan 6 would finally determine whether or not the addendum order had been issued for his father, who is currently serving his jail sentence at Kajang prison.
On Feb 2, the Federal Territories Pardons Board (FTPB) announced that Najib’s prison sentence in his SRC International case had been halved from 12 years to six, and his fine reduced from RM210 million to RM50 million.
In his leave application filed in the High Court on April 1, Najib claimed that the former king had, during an FTPB meeting on Jan 29, also issued a supplementary decree allowing him to serve the remainder of his reduced jail term under house arrest.
He said the board had omitted to announce the terms of the supplementary decree and that the government was in contempt for not complying with it.
Najib wants the court to compel the government to execute the supplementary decree, if it exists, by placing him under house arrest.
The High Court in Kuala Lumpur had on July 3 dismissed Najib’s application for leave to commence judicial review proceedings over the purported addendum order.
It ruled that Najib had failed to show he had an arguable case to warrant a full hearing of his proposed judicial review application.
The Court of Appeal has fixed Jan 6 to hear Najib’s appeal for leave to commence judicial review proceedings and to adduce fresh evidence in his appeal. - FMT
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