Malaysia’s Umno to press for Najib’s release but to stay in coalition

[KUALA LUMPUR] The United Malays National Organisation (Umno), which for decades dominated Malaysian politics and remains a key member of the ruling coalition, is set to renew a push for the release of jailed former Prime Minister Najib Razak next week, even as it steps back from threats to quit the government.

Resolutions pushing for a full pardon and demanding justice for Najib were the “hottest topic” submitted by the party’s 191 divisions ahead of its annual assembly, Secretary-General Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki said at a briefing on Friday (Jan 9).

Some 104 divisions submitted resolutions calling for the release of Najib, who has multiple convictions for his role in the 1MDB fraud that cost the country billions.

The resolutions show the strength of support retained by Najib, 72, who last month lost a bid to serve the remainder of a six-year prison sentence at home. He was subsequently convicted of abuse of power and money laundering, and handed a US$2.8 billion fine and a further 15 years in prison. All the convictions were in connection with 1MDB, a failed state-run fund whose collapse sparked probes from Singapore to Switzerland.

Asyraf said that despite recent calls for the party to leave Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s government – triggered by another coalition member’s gloating over Najib’s failed bid for house arrest – no resolution to withdraw has been submitted to the party ahead of the meeting. 

“It’s not going to be a big issue in this year’s assembly,” Asyraf said.

Umno Youth chief Akmal Saleh last week called for the party to leave the government. The youth wing would propose that Umno revive its cooperation with the opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, known as PAS. 

Umno president Zahid Hamidi has previously shot down suggestions that the party should leave the government, reiterating a commitment to remain in the coalition until the next nationwide election that must be held by early 2028. Zahid serves as deputy prime minister in Anwar’s Cabinet, and saw his own graft case dropped by prosecutors days before the assembly, which runs from Jan 14 through Jan 17.

Any bid for a pardon must go through Malaysia’s current king, Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar. Najib previously had a sentence reduced by Ibrahim’s predecessor, Sultan Abdullah Ahmad, who hails from the former premier’s home state of Pahang.

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Najib was ousted when Umno, which had ruled Malaysia for six decades, lost power in 2018 after the 1MDB scandal. It became part of Anwar’s coalition in 2022. BLOOMBERG