Najib's conviction may be a chance for Malaysia to finally move on

MANY Malaysians were pleased with the outcome of disgraced former prime minister Najib Razak's trial last week, perhaps none more so than the current prime minister, Muhyiddin Yassin.

For one thing, Mr Muhyiddin might now be able to claim that the campaign to restore good governance started by Pakatan Harapan (PH) has not stopped. It could also buy him some time to fashion his Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) into a viable Malay-based party that is untainted by United Malays National Organisation's (Umno) corruption, more progressive than Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS), and uncommitted to eventually handing the premiership to Anwar Ibrahim.

PH won the 2018 general election for two key reasons. The first was the monumental scandal surrounding 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). The second was that Mahathir Mohamad had entered the fray, forming PPBM and contesting under the PH banner. Dr Mahathir's instincts were that the PH coalition needed an overtly Malay-based party to wrest rural votes from Umno and PAS. Indeed, Mr Anwar's multiracial PKR had repeatedly tried and failed to lead opposition coalitions to power in previous elections.