A new political calculus

A file photo of Najib arriving at the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex. With a conditional royal pardon allowing him to serve out the rest of his sentence under house arrest, Najib now has the opportunity to exert his still strong influence over Umno and Malaysian politics. — Filepic/AFP

JUST when you thought you might have finally got a bit of a grasp on Malaysian politics, boom, a major event on Friday threw everything off.

You would have assumed that even with Umno posturing and threatening to pull out of the unity government, or daring Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to sack them, the PM could still comfortably hang on to power until his term expires in February 2028.