Big 'discount' leaves many asking why

THE dragon hasn’t roared in yet, but the nation has been set aflame by the Federal Territories Pardons Board’s decision to cut former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s jail time by half to six years and give a super generous 78% discount on his fine from RM210mil to RM50mil.

Myself and many other Malaysians have been left frustrated at the lack of transparency over this decision.

Respected legal experts have weighed in on the controversy and clearly, going by the legal provisions and conventions governing pardons for convicts, we are left perplexed as to how Najib got such a sweet deal.

According to Emeritus Prof Datuk Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi who wrote in his column, Reflecting on the Law ("Issues surrounding the Pardons Board decision", The Star, Feb 5), the board’s deliberations are secret and it is not bound to give reasons for its decision.

But he also added: "Nevertheless, many citizens wish to know why a high-profile and politically sensitive verdict that took more than four years to reach, cost millions of ringgit and witnessed extraordinary courage and integrity from nine judges at three levels of the court system, had to be undermined this way without cogent reasons."

Exactly. Why? "Cogent" means "clear, logical, and convincing." Do we have such reasons to justify the decision in this case?

That’s why former minister Khairy Jamaluddin speaks for many when he said the Pardons Board should explain how it came to its decision.

He asked if it had been done in consideration of Najib’s service to the nation; and if not, then the decision would "give rise to a lot of speculation as to why different sets of rules are being applied to different people."

Well, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim did say Najib’s reduced sentence and fine were indeed influenced by his contributions to the nation and something about his contributions to his family too.

Hmmm, I regret to say that this is not cogent enough a reason for me to accept, or the fact that PMX admitted to helping to fast-track Najib’s application, for which he was duly thanked by Umno Supreme Council member Datuk Lokman Noor Adam.

Incensed ordinary citizens are poring over the criteria required for applying for a pardon and are demanding to know if Najib met them, such as the convention that a prisoner should have served one-third of his sentence. Najib’s jail term started on Aug 23, 2022, and a netizen calculated that he has only served 11.8% of his sentence.

Another criterion is that the prisoner must confess to and show remorse for his crime, and Najib has done neither.

But this could be explained by Umno Supreme Council member Datuk Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi, who said in a Facebook post that Najib's application to the Pardons Board was solely on his claim that he wasn’t given a fair trial. Hence, he was not seeking a pardon by admitting guilt nor requesting for a reduction in his sentence or fine.

If that is true, then how is the public to understand what the Pardons Board did? Najib was tried at all three levels of the court system and found guilty at every level by nine judges, and sentenced accordingly.

Public anger is fuelled by the sinking feeling that punishment for corruption, even on the massive scale that is 1MDB, is negotiable and the saying "you do the crime, you do the time" is meaningless in Malaysia.

They are also comparing how corruption is perceived and handled in other countries. Malaysians are torn between amusement and envy that Singapore arrested its former Transport Minister, S. Iswaran, on 27 charges related to claims that he received favours such as flights, hotel stays and tickets to soccer matches, shows and events amounting to almost S$400,000 (RM1,412,080) allegedly in exchange for advancing the interests of property tycoon and Singapore GP chairman Ong Beng Seng from 2015 to 2023.

In South Korea, the president’s wife Kim Keon-hee, who was secretly filmed accepting a designer handbag with a RM10,410 price tag, has plunged President Yoon Suk-yeol into controversy, jeopardising his party’s April election prospects.

Just one gift and that was enough for the media to dub the incident as the "Dior bag scandal" because it violates South Korean law banning public officials and their spouses from accepting gifts worth more than US$750 (RM3,550).

Here’s another example of how serious another nation is about personal integrity and honesty among people in leadership positions.

A junior high school principal in Japan was dismissed from his job after he was caught dispensing more coffee than he paid for at a convenience store, according to businessinsider.com, citing local media reports.

The 59-year-old man would pay for the regular-sized option at 75 cents a cup but realised he could pour himself a $1.25 coffee portion at a self-service machine without the store staff noticing.

He helped himself to the extra coffee seven times before he was finally caught in December by a store clerk, who called the police. Although he was let off by the police, it was enough for him to lose his job.

He reportedly apologised to his students and their families for failing in his role to lead by example and encourage discipline.

Now that is something I wish Umno would take heed of – leading by example! I am really sad that the party that was the undoubtedly strong and respected leader of first the Alliance and then the Barisan Nasional governments that brought great progress and development for the well-being and prosperity of the country and its people, has become so diminished.

It had great statesmen like Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, Tun Hussein Onn, Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, Tun Abdul Ghafar Baba and Tun Musa Hitam who were exemplary in their total dedication to serving their country without enriching themselves and their families and didn’t use divisive racial tactics to keep themselves in power.

Political observers like Professor Dr Mansor Mohd Noor from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Institute of Ethnic Studies has opined that even after losing a number of states and its two-thirds majority in Parliament in 2008, Umno did not learn any lessons from their mistakes; the grassroots rejected it because of its corrupt ways and failed to implement much needed reforms.

Even though it won only 26 parliamentary seats in the last general election, Umno lucked out because Pakatan Harapan needed it to form the unity government and so it is able to play the kingmaker and make demands like freeing Najib.

Instead of focusing on helping the government to improve the economy, our education system and heaps more important urgent issues, the party’s supreme council is continuing to push for a full pardon with a petition to be signed by a million party members.

I am eternally grateful that there is another group of Malays who think differently. This is the G25 group of eminent Malays who issued a statement on Monday (Feb 5) expressing "fear that the decision of the Pardons Board would create a bad precedent. And it would result in the justice system in Malaysia being the subject of ridicule internationally."

The group is also calling for an early meeting of the Pardons Board to rescind the decision to grant Najib a partial pardon.

If Umno can petition to free Najib, surely other Malaysians can do likewise and petition to keep him in jail since we are supposed to be a democracy, which is the rule of the people, for the people and by the people.

The views expressed here are the writer's own.