Najib has done nothing to deserve pardon

 

YOURSAY | 'Umno wants to be seen to be fighting for its former president.'

Moving Najib from prison to bungalow risks deepening political apathy, warns livid Muda

Najib pardon row exposes fresh cracks in unity govt as Umno comes out swinging

EmEmKay: Malaysian youths should be the angriest about this proposal to move former prime minister Najib Razak from prison to a bungalow.

The message it sends is that those who stole billions can eventually negotiate themselves into comfort, while ordinary people quietly shoulder the burden.

It is today's and tomorrow's youth who will be repaying the 1MDB debts for decades through lost opportunities, weaker public services, and a more fragile economy. If this downgrade of punishment goes through, it will deepen the sense that there is one law for the powerful and another for everyone else.

Young Malaysians cannot afford to be apathetic. They must organise, speak out, vote, and keep the pressure on every party in power to uphold real accountability – not special treatment for those convicted of grand corruption.

Apanama is back: Umno will frame the pardon application as a question of the ruler's right to pardon, deliberately suggesting that those who question Najib's application are disrespectful to the ruler. In fact, the King acts on the advice of the Pardon Board, but Umno Baru will deliberately go all out to say that the King has the prerogative to pardon.

This is how Umno needs to be seen as fighting for Najib, a former party president.

They know it is wrong to say so. Still, for their gullible supporters who mostly do not know how the Agong works under our Constitution, they need to mislead and misinterpret the constitution for their own selfish political agenda.

They will keep repeating this narrative in the coming annual general meeting (AGM), with delegates shouting from the rooftops that no one should question the king's right to pardon.

Moreover, Umno can use this pardon application as the reason to work with PAS in the name of that fake unity narrative. They need a reason to break off from the current fragile unity government.

Mazhilamani: What is there for Umno to come out swinging? Najib has still not completed his court cases; is it not too premature for him to seek pardon before the outcome of the last case?

The charges against him are certainly very serious, involving the loss of the nation's money that runs into several billions. The money that has enriched him, his family and the political family around him.

Does anybody realise the ill repute that it has brought to the country, the loss of money for the country's economic development and gainful infrastructure, and the taxes the rakyat has to bear for years to make good for the losses?

Don't drag the monarchy into the pardon issue. The king has to make his final decision based on the advice of the Pardons Board.

Do not be quick to blame Pakatan Harapan if the appeal for pardon fails. Harapan does not influence the Pardons Board. In fact, politicians who indulge in corruption must feel ashamed for abusing their power and position, remembering that it was the rakyat who had elected them to serve us.

Coward: In truth, provided he is willing to foot the full cost himself, I am agreeable if he is imprisoned in a small bungalow with a prison hospital-style bed and food budget.

There should be no other comfort of the house other than those normally found in prison, and he should be subjected to the same visiting/communication restrictions as in prison.

In other words, since his son wants to compare him to former South African president Nelson Mandela, Mandela's prison villa condition and restrictions just before his release for Najib is acceptable to me if he foots the entire bill.

Warm Skies: No one is above the law, and any moves to grant additional clemency for Najib must be struck down.

The Agong is fully aware that there should not be any double or triple standards, and he has continuously espoused to the rakyat that he has zero tolerance for corruption, in any way or form.

No house arrest, no reduction in sentence, and no pardon. Just serve out his prison sentence.

GrayParrot9290: The whole world was watching and laughing after the 12-year prison term was cut in half and the RM120 million fine was reduced to RM50 million.

Now, there is the house arrest consideration.

Has Najib offered any apologies? Does he still claim his innocence? Will he pay the imposed fine?

Bornean: If Najib got his way into a comfortable house to serve his jail tenure. That will bury Harapan's chance for a second term for good.

GP2025: Firstly, Umno secretary-general Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki should never bring the royals into any public discussion on political matters.

Secondly, is the Pardons Board deliberating on a request for a pardon or house arrest? If a pardon, the proper process must be followed.

If it's a decision to change a jail conviction to house arrest, procedures must also be followed, the most important of which is whether the Constitution empowers the king as the Pardons Board chairperson to change a sentence.

Legal experts should advise the board, but politicians should not politicise the role of the board chairperson, as the Agong is above politics.

Lone_star: Syabas Harapan Youth treasurer Lim Chun Weng.

Asyraf is comparing different "deeds" of corruption and its devasting effects on the nation and Rakyat to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim sodomy charges in the past.

He clearly has little understanding of the rule of law and should be seen as the twister. He is also not conforming to Agong's directive to combat corruption. - Mkini