Cabinet yet to discuss releasing Pardons Board minutes on Najib's house arrest

 

The cabinet did not discuss a proposal to declassify the Pardons Board meeting minutes on former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's clemency, which allowed him to serve the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest, said government spokesperson Fahmi Fadzil.

This comes a day after Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail told the Dewan Rakyat that he would propose the matter at today's weekly cabinet meeting.

Saifuddin argued that the move would provide greater clarity and a more accurate understanding of the board's decision-making process.

However, Fahmi clarified that the matter was not directly discussed, although the process was understood to be underway, subject to several legal considerations.

“The cabinet is being advised by the attorney-general on this matter. The intention is there, but the necessary processes must be followed,” said the communications minister at a post-cabinet press conference.

The proposal was initially raised by Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman

He pointed to the controversy surrounding Najib's house arrest, which had led to several police reports against former Damansara MP Tony Pua, as well as accusations of treason against those who disagreed with the Pardons Board's decision.

Syed Saddiq asked Saifuddin whether he would propose declassifying the board's minutes to resolve the controversy, arguing that it was unfair for the government to shoulder the moral burden of the decision.

No update on Loke's successor

Meanwhile, Fahmi said there was no update on a successor to Anthony Loke following the transport minister's resignation.

He added that the matter was not discussed at today's cabinet meeting, with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim having already made his position clear at a Pakatan Harapan ceramah in Ayer Keroh last night.

Anwar said he had yet to accept Loke's resignation and that the matter could still be renegotiated, suggesting that the DAP secretary-general could instead take a “short break”.

DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke

However, Loke, who also spoke at the event, maintained that his decision was final.

“DAP and I remain supportive of Anwar as prime minister,” he said, stressing that the party's 40 MPs remained firmly behind the Tambun MP.

Loke's resignation followed controversy over the decision allowing Najib to serve the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest, which drew criticism from within DAP.

Nacsa to provide updates on Microsoft outage

Separately, Fahmi said the National Cyber Security Agency (Nacsa) had yet to compile its report to the cabinet on the recent Microsoft outage, which disrupted services globally.

The disruption was part of a wider Microsoft 365 outage affecting Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, and Copilot.

Microsoft reportedly attributed the problems to elevated workloads across its infrastructure, leaving some servers unavailable and disrupting users' access to mailboxes and other services.

Fahmi said he was still awaiting an update from the agency as of this morning, noting that the incident had affected multiple countries and could have significant implications.

He added that it had yet to be established which Malaysian ministries or government departments were affected by the disruption to Microsoft's cloud-based services.

“I will advise Nacsa to issue an update on the actions taken,” he said. - Mkini