COMMENT | Najib's apology might be precursor to house arrest

COMMENT | Two years ago, speaking with bravado, he equated his father, former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s imprisonment to Nelson Mandela’s experience and that of Prophet Yusuf.

At the “Solidarity for Najib” event in Pekan, Pahang, in September 2022, Nizar, like many politicians, invoked the name of the Almighty.

He said it was perhaps God’s way of elevating his father to a higher level. He was confident that the Pekan MP would emerge better after serving his jail time.

To the thunderous applause, he said: “Not many can rise after being globally shamed. If others had gone through that, they would have probably gone mad or fallen into a coma for months.”

In an immediate response, I wrote: “What will Najib be remembered for? He was already described as ‘kleptocracy at its worst’ by former US attorney-general Jeff Sessions, and by The Economist as a “brazen kleptocrat”.

At home, the Court of Appeal described him as a “national embarrassment”.

But yesterday, speaking to the media outside the High Court in Kuala Lumpur, Nizar’s smugness, arrogance, and self-righteousness disappeared when reading his father’s prepared statement.

Instead, he humbly read an “apology” from Najib, sans a crowd of supporters, which pointed fingers at fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) and Petrosaudi executives.

“As hard as it is for some people to fathom, I was advised and honestly believe at the time that the funds I received were political donations from Saudi Arabia,” Najib said.

“It pains me every day to know that the 1MDB debacle happened under my watch as finance minister and prime minister.

“For that, I would like to apologise unreservedly to the nation,” he said.

“The Edge had concluded in their article that Petrosaudi and Jho Low had collaborated to deceive me, that I was not aware that Petrosaudi was siphoning 1MDB funds, and that I did not knowingly receive any money from the funds sent by 1MDB to Petrosaudi.”

His reference to The Edge’s article was misguided and misrepresented. Didn’t he refuse to listen to The Edge chairperson Tong Kooi Ong, who warned Najib in 2015 of Jho?

Testifying in the 1MDB corruption trial in 2022, Tong said: “After I told Najib that Low should be held to account and prosecuted, he (Najib) stood up and held the door open for me to leave.”

Najib’s “apology” does not explain why he disbanded the task force investigating the 1MDB fiasco. Why were MACC officers “transferred” to the Prime Minister’s Department?

Why was then-attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail removed? Why transfer MACC chief Abu Kassim Mohamed to academic duties?

Threatened for investigating

Remember the latter’s deputy, Syukri Abdul? Why was he threatened when investigating 1MDB and SRC International?

Shukri said he was threatened with the sack, forced into early retirement, and even had bullets sent to his home. He and his fellow investigators were under immense pressure, including having their witnesses spirited away.

He said he and Abu Kassim Mohamed were even accused of being traitors who were out to overthrow the government.

“My experience in investigating the SRC and 1MDB cases was frightening; I almost died,” he reportedly said.

Why was the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) used to detain those seeking the truth?

Najib’s apology is incomplete without answers to these questions. There are perhaps dozens more, which will give Malaysians an idea of how they have ended up paying RM45 billion because of the follies of their former leaders.

How does one interpret the apology and the melodrama outside the court yesterday?

Is it a precursor to things brightening up for the incarcerated former prime minister? Is such an apology a pre-requisite for the much-touted house arrest?

But when stranger things like the withdrawal of charges, granting of discharge not amounting to acquittal (DNAA), and the like, nothing can be dismissed.

The catch is in his statement: “Being held legally responsible for things that I did not initiate or knowingly enable is unfair to me, and I hope and pray that the judicial process will, in the end, prove my innocence.”

Isn’t taking responsibility for the debacle an admission of guilt?

R NADESWARAN is a veteran journalist who writes on bread-and-butter issues. Comments: citizen.nades22@gmail.com

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

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