According to Finance Twitter , when the going gets tough, he runs and hides away. That’s how Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim projects himself just 15 months into office. The only thing he dares to involve is defending Hamas terrorists in an ongoing war some 7,600 kilometres away. That is what really excites him. In his own homeland, he seems clueless and directionless on how to tackle what appear to be endless domestic problems.
When UMNO Youth Chief Akmal Saleh deliberately incited racial and religious hatred over “Allah” sock fiasco, PM Anwar pretended as if nothing happens. When some UMNO-Malay extremists – inspired by Akmal – began firebombing KK Mart convenience stores, again the prime minister hid in a corner. When Akmal was finally arrested and grilled by the police, Anwar quickly assured the bully that he wasn’t arrested.
When the UMNO chief instigator continued to defiantly promote terrorism against Chinese-owned businesses, the country’s CEO lost his tongue again and chose to see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. Eventually, King Sultan Ibrahim had to do the jobs of a prime minister and a home minister, summoning the racist scumbag for an earful, which Akmal celebrated as a great victory.
When Vern’s footwear company was falsely accused of insulting Islam over a shoe logo, which some narrow-minded Muslims insisted resemble the word “Allah” in Arabic script, Mr Anwar was nowhere to be seen. His apple-polisher Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution lazily said he was not interested in interfering police process, despite the fact he is in charge of the police force.
When the Ringgit plunged like a rock, breaching momentarily the psychological RM4.80 level, the premier said the local currency was “under control” – even claimed investors were not concerned at all. When the currency performance stubbornly refused to improve, he passed the ball to the governor of Bank Negara Malaysia (Central Bank) to answer all the tough questions.
Now that former Prime Minister Najib Razak, who succeeded in soliciting deep discounts for his 12-year jail sentence and RM210 million fines from the previous King Sultan Abdullah, is demanding to be jailed from home, PM Anwar again said it’s not his business. “I don’t want to be involved in discussions about the addendum (supplementary order),” – Anwar Ibrahim conveniently announced.
Unfortunately, it’s rather too late for the PM to wash his hands now. He was doomed from the moment he, in his attempt to suck up to the monarch, blindly and stupidly agreed to the royal pardon granted by Sultan Abdullah of Pahang on the last day of his 5-year reign. Anwar even defended the indefensible move to reduce the jail sentence for disgraced Najib, who had stolen tens of billions in the 1MDB scandal.
Like it or not, it screams “royal betrayal” when the previous King chaired a pardons board and bulldozed the decision to halve Najib’s 12-year jail sentence and cut fines by 76%. The Sultanate of Pahang’s special relationship with Najib was obvious when a convicted Najib was invited to wine and dine with the King during a Ramadan dinner at the high table back in 2022.
But it was Anwar who admitted to submitting Najib’s application for a royal pardon to the Pardons Board, something which previous prime ministers Muhyiddin Yassin and Ismail Sabri had refused to do. It was part of Najib’s political chess move to free himself, as well as to checkmate the clueless and incompetent Anwar, who is under the pressure from UMNO to rubber stamp or risk losing power.
Sure, the prime minister can scream till his face turned blue that he was not involved in the decision-making. But the people aren’t stupid. After all, it was the PM who suddenly revived the Federal Territories Ministry and appointed the useless former Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa to the portfolio, who in turn was a member of the Pardons Board (so that Anwar has the excuse to claim innocence).
Additionally, Anwar’s newly appointed Attorney General Ahmad Terrirudin Mohd Salleh was also a member of the Pardons Board. Three other members of the board were appointed by the King. While the government keeps saying it was Sultan Abdullah’s sole discretion whether to pardon Najib, in truth, the King must act on the advice of the board. Otherwise, why bother having the board meeting in the first place?
Had it been Mahathir Mohamad, such royal pardon would not see the light of the day at all, unless of course, there was a “secret agreement” between Anwar Ibrahim and the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) to free Najib Razak in exchange for UMNO’s support to ensure Anwar becomes the 10th Prime Minister after the Nov 2022 General Election that produced a hung parliament.
Even if Sultan Abdullah wanted to free the crook, which Anwar knew would create a political storm for his administration, the premier could easily outplay the royal trap by pre-emptively announced his displeasure, disgust and disagreement to pardon Najib – and keep his mouth shut thereafter. People will get the message. But no, Anwar instead praised the ex-King’s decision as full of “mercy and compassion”.
His repetitive warnings to critics to stop condemning the Pardon Board’s decision to reward the grand thief the pardon was seen as legitimizing the monarch’s controversial decision. Anwar happily walked into the trap set up by Najib, UMNO and the Palace, infuriating millions of Pakatan Harapan supporters who had fought tirelessly to ensure Anwar became the prime minister so that reforms could take place.
First thing first – does the alleged “supplementary order” which allows former Prime Minister Najib to serve his sentence under house arrest exist in the first place? Based on the reactions from the government so far, chances are it does. If there isn’t such thing, Anwar could easily and confidently rubbish the existence of such damaging documents, but he didn’t.
Interestingly, Home Minister Saifuddin said in early April that he was not aware of the so-called “supplementary order”. That doesn’t mean the addendum did not exist, but merely it was above Saifuddin’s pay grade, or he lied about it. However, a new drama exploded when Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi issued an affidavit in support of his former boss Najib.
In his affidavit, Zahid, who is also UMNO president, claims that he saw it with his own eyes the existence of the supplementary order, the same way he had lied like a rug how he met the wealthy Arab royal family who donated the mind-boggling US$700 million that was channelled into the personal bank accounts of Najib Razak – money which actually was stolen from 1MDB sovereign fund.
Zahid’s affidavit also claimed that Minister of Investment, Trade, and Industry Tengku Zafrul Aziz had affirmed the existence of the supplementary order. The drama took a new twist when Zafrul subsequently said Zahid’s affidavit contains “certain factual errors,” but did not specify the errors. Again, if such documents do not exist, Zafrul would have denied it, but he didn’t.
In his application to seek judicial review filed on April 1, Najib’s lawyers claimed the former Agong (King) issued the order during the January 29 meeting of the board, allowing Najib to serve the remainder of his reduced sentence under house arrest. But if indeed there was such order to begin with, why hadn’t Najib’s legal team scrambled to free his client 3 months ago?
Exactly why Najib patiently squatted for 3 months in prison, which reportedly granted the crook special privileges unlike other prisoners, instead of demanding an immediate release to be jailed from home, where he could finally reunite with beloved wife Rosmah Mansor and enjoy his favourite Starbucks caramel macchiato? Even if the government tried to hide it, Najib could cry to the King to break the silence.
There could be only one explanation. The addendum was produced at a later stage – after the partial royal pardon was officially announced – but had been illegally backdated. Because Sultan Ibrahim of Johor was sworn in as the country’s 17th King on January 31, and Najib’s pardon was officially made known only in early February, the supplementary order was an afterthought.
But who dares to challenge the legality of the documents, especially when it was issued by the almighty King? Anwar definitely does not have the balls, especially after he cowardly washed his hands by declaring that the Agong and the Malay Rulers have absolute authority on the matter. That probably explains why the public was barred from the court proceedings in Najib’s bid to compel the government to produce the “supplementary order”.
The court has to be held behind closed doors because not only it involves sensitive materials, but potentially an embarrassing “royal scandal” which could implicate the monarch in breaking the law just to free the world’s biggest crook. Regardless, Anwar-led Pakatan Harapan coalition would be in deep trouble – even lost power – if Najib walks away a free man, which appears to be the case.
Connecting the dots, “Bossku” Najib had been plotting to checkmate narcissists Anwar by using his royal connection to pressure the government to agree to either a full or partial royal pardon. The second step, if the PM foolishly swallows the hook, line and sinker, would be to cook up a backdated “supplementary order” and voila, Najib will be on his way back to his luxurious home – escorted by police.
The third step is for Najib to return to power, either directly or through a proxy like the return of Thaksin Shinawatra to Thailand. Opposition Perikatan Nasional would welcome Najib with open arms if he could order Zahid to withdraw support for Anwar. The crook knew the PM’s weakness when he saw how Anwar passionately kissed the hands of the royals whenever he has the chance. Getting support from the monarchs comes with a price.
It’s a double-edged sword. The King whom sworn in Anwar Ibrahim as the 10th Prime Minister was also the same King who demanded that his inner circle be granted the royal privilege to walk away free. Mr. Najib holds the “Orang Kaya Indera Shahbandar” title, which he inherited from his late father. The title is one of the four highest ranking nobles below the monarch – hence also known as the “Orang Besar Berempat”, loosely translates as “the four chiefs”.
But does that mean as one of the four chiefs who wielded wide powers in Pahang during the ancient times of the Old Pahang Sultanate, it automatically grants Najib immunity from corruption, something which Sultan Abdullah had condemned as against Islam and a cancer that could destroy civilisations? There’s a huge difference between empty rhetoric and birds of a feather flock together.
Because Malay Sultans must be worshipped and cannot be criticised, let alone dragged to the court, Anwar Ibrahim will pay the price, largely because not only he is weak and indecisive, but because his sole objective was to become the prime minister. Everything else can be sacrificed and not important to him. It doesn’t matter if this is his only term as prime minister.
Still, the burning question is whether the King has the power to order a crook like Najib to be jailed from home. While the monarch has the power to grant a royal pardon, there isn’t any provision which empowered the King to permit a convict to serve the remaining sentence at home sweet home. Sadly, the only man who can stop all this nonsense is more interested in clinging to power than do the right thing.
The day Najib walks out of prison will be the day people begin abandoning Anwar’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat (People’s Justice Party). In the next 16th General Election, PKR will suffer its greatest defeat, sending Pakatan Harapan coalition back to the opposition camp. But the election isn’t necessarily to be held in 2027. It could be earlier, which means Anwar may not get to taste power for a 5-year full term.
Source : Finance Twitter
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