COMMENT Two things are for sure after the royal decree was issued last week, which will leave Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak with no other option but to resign.

For this reason, I believe, he is now checkmated. The game is over, although Najib may still try to hang on to his office with the help of his men.

The first is that the newly-minted attorney-general Apandi Ali can no longer hold the fort by telling the people and their Royal Highnesses that the special task force set up to investigate 1MDB was never disbanded.

In his final speech, outgoing MACC deputy commissioner (management and professionalism) Zakaria Jaafar had claimed that the task force had not met since MACC director-general Abu Kassim Mohamed returned from overseas.

This, along with former New Straits Times editor-in-chief Kadir Jasin’s remarks , has put Apandi in a spot. Where the public is concerned, the task force was supposed to carry out the joint investigation but since the removal of former attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail, the task force had not met.

Instead, individual agencies were asked to submit their reports. Bank Negara, for example, has submitted its report to Apandi and urged the Attorney-General’s Chambers to prosecute 1MDB under the Exchange Control Act 1945, but Apandi has not taken up the case.

This raised more suspicion over the reasons why Gani was removed and replaced by a former Federal Court judge, but as Kadir in his blog wrote, “We should give him (Apandi) the benefit of the doubt that, despite coming through from an Umno background, he would act without fear and favour to uphold the rule of law and justice.”

So far, Apandi has not shown his sincerity over the 1MDB despite the royal decree to punish the parties at fault. Not carrying out the wishes of the Conference of Malay Rulers would effectively make Apandi to be committing a malfeasance.

It would be interesting to observe how Apandi would manoeuvre himself, or would he be able to make a roundabout turn, after being caught in between Najib on one hand, and the Conference of Rulers on the other.

Speaker, no other options

In the same manner, Parliament speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia ( photo ), who had earlier complained about his makeshift toilet and lack of opportunities to introduce reforms in the parliament, is on the hot seat.

Pandikar Amin will have no other option but to allow the ‘no-confidence vote’ motion to go through in the coming parliamentary session.

This is because more people have voiced out their opinions openly against the embattled Najib over the 1MDB black hole.

And the Conference of Malay Rulers wants the entire 1MDB episode which is linked to Najib to come to an end as soon as possible, with the people involved being punished accordingly.

Going against the rulers is not an option for Pandikar Amin, as he was appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. It will also be interesting to see whether the royal address will touch on the 1MDB scandal once again, and how the rulers want the issue to be addressed with urgency.

We have seen that immediately after the royal decree was issued, Bank Negara governor Zeti Aziz has finally come out in the forefront to uphold the integrity of the country’s central bank.

She had remained silent for a while since the task force was disbanded. Even at her press conference immediately after that, Zeti had chosen not to make any further comments for fear that she, too, might be arrested.

However, Zeti’s job is to ensure that the integrity of the country’s financial system is not compromised at any point in time, and whether by coincidence or otherwise, her statement has been most timely after the Conference of Rulers expressed their wish to see the 1MDB investigation expedited.

Opposition will exploit the situation

Former deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin ( photo ) has come out strongly to urge fellow Umno members to be more vocal .

He realises that with the royal decree, members of the opposition could exploit the situation by telling the rural folk that Umno is now the one not upholding the royal decree.

This would effectively erode the confidence of grassroots support towards Umno.

With this, it is likely that Umno leaders will have to be seen realigning themselves to the Malay rulers. It will be interesting to see in the next two weeks whether they would turn around to join former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to urge Najib’s resignation.

Article 43 (4) of the federal constitution states that “If the prime minister ceases to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the House of Representatives, then, unless at his request the Yang di-Pertuan Agong dissolves Parliament, the prime minister shall tender the resignation of the cabinet.”

It is not only Najib who would have to go but the entire cabinet. A new prime minister would have to be appointed, who will then set up his cabinet. Whatever the case, in my opinion, Najib is already checkmated.

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.