Shouldn’t Malaysians Say “Enough is Enough”?

 

In 2022, after Umno president was acquitted of 40 charges relating to the foreign visa system (VLN) contract, he declared: “I had faith in the judiciary ‘since day one’.” But when former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s SRC International case went through the appeals process, and with the Federal Court finally upholding his conviction and sentence, the tone changed. 

Najib was convicted by the High Court on July 28, 2020. On Dec 8, 2021, a three-member Court of Appeal panel chaired by Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil unanimously upheld his conviction and sentence. The other judges were Has Zanah Mehat and Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera. 

Source: https://www.psthatslife.com/when-enough-is-enough/ 

In August 2022, the Federal Court heard his final appeal. The five-judge bench was chaired by then-chief justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat. The other members were chief judge of Sabah and Sarawak Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim and senior judges P Nallini, Mary Lim Thiam Suan, and Zabidin Diah. It was an unanimous decision that the evidence led during the trial points overwhelmingly to guilt on all seven charges. 

“We demand (sic) that he be given justice in court. We demand that fair justice is given to Datuk Seri Najib,” Zahid thundered at the UMNO general assembly. The phrases “fair trial” and “justice” have been misused interchangeably ever since Najib was first charged in 2018. 

All this, despite Najib being described as a “national embarrassment” by the Court of Appeal, and despite then High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah’s judgment in the 1MDB case. The judge described Najib’s plundering of state-owned 1MDB as graver than the acts of Attila the Hun, because his role in one of the world’s greatest financial scandals resulted in enormous debts of tens of billions of ringgit that generations of Malaysians will have to bear. In an 810-page written judgment, Sequerah said Najib had leveraged the vast powers bestowed on him by his “exalted positions” as prime minister, finance minister, and chairman of 1MDB’s board of advisers to enable the audacious theft at the strategic investment company. The scale of the 1MDB scandal involving Najib was so vast that it made “Attila the Hun look like a choirboy by comparison”. 

Yet, the Umno charade continues, as if Najib’s pardon - like other privileges for selected politicians - were an entitlement that lesser mortals should not question. Najib has not expressed regret or remorse; he has never apologised for his role in the losses suffered by us, the Malaysian taxpayers, who continue to pay for his excesses and his dealings with Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low. 

As of March 2023, the government had paid RM43.8 billion of 1MDB’s obligations, while a further RM9.7 billion remain outstanding, comprising RM5 billion in principal and RM4.7 billion in interest. Public discussion of accountability cannot be separated from the financial burden ultimately borne by the state and, by extension, taxpayers. Even after tens of billions of ringgit had been paid, substantial liabilities remained. 

The central question in any debate about clemency, pardon, or accountability is therefore not only whether a punishment has been served, but also how society weighs the magnitude of the financial consequences against principles of justice, responsibility, and public trust. Redemption is atoning for guilt, a fault, or a mistake. Najib has yet to admit wrongdoing or express remorse, despite the Federal Court affirming the guilty verdicts passed by the courts below in the SRC International case. 

And to a greater extent, many have refused to accept that Najib misused public funds, refusing to accept the adage - if you do the crime, you must do the time. But a clear message has to be sent: the larger the loss, the higher the threshold many citizens believe should apply when considering exceptional relief. And the higher the status, the more severe the punishment should be. Shouldn’t Malaysians say clearly “enough is enough”, especially at the coming GE16? 

Reference:

COMMENT | Malaysians have the right to say 'no' to Umno-style justice, R Nadeswaran, Malaysiakini, Sep 16, 2026