Survey: Over 60pct Indians back Najib's pardon bid

Summary

• According to a survey conducted on 1,210 respondents, 62.2pct Indians support former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s pardon bid.

• The ex-PM also finds backers among Perikatan Nasional supporters, which stands at 44.6pct.

• However, over 85pct of respondents feel there was no need for a reduction to the sentence.

A majority of Indians back former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s pardon bid, according to a Merdeka Center survey.

The survey, commissioned by Projek Sama, found that 62.2 percent of Indians surveyed supported Najib’s bid, followed by Muslim bumiputera (50.5 percent) and Malays (43.0 percent).

However, a whopping 95 percent of Chinese opposed it, followed by non-Muslim bumiputera at 51 percent.

The survey was conducted between March 27 and April 17 this year; involving 1,210 respondents aged 18 and above.

The interviews were conducted through phone calls, with 2.82 percent margin of error.

Respondents were selected through a random stratified sampling method along the lines of ethnicity, gender, age and states - from all 222 constituencies in the 13 states and the three Federal Territories.

In August 2022, the Federal Court upheld Najib’s one count of abuse of power, three counts of criminal breach of trust (CBT), and three money laundering charges.

The court then sentenced the former Pekan MP to 12 years’ jail time and slapped a RM210 fine on him.

However, in February last year, the Pardons Board slashed the jail time to six years and reduced the fine to RM50 million.

PN backers

Across the political divide, while it was unsurprising that many BN supporters backed Najib’s bid, a considerable number of Perikatan Nasional also supported it.

“While 67.7 percent of BN supporters supported the action, 44.6 percent of PN supporters also backed it.

“As for Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) and Warisan, the support is at 39.2 percent.

“The staunch opponents to Najib’s pardon plea were Pakatan Harapan supporters (87.3 percent), followed by ‘other voters’ (57.1 percent), East Malaysian party supporters (54.9 percent), and PN supporters (46.1 percent),” the report read.

Penalty discount

On queries about the initial 12 years imprisonment andan RM210 million fine slapped on Najib, Merdeka Center said over 85 percent of respondents felt there was no need for a reduction to the sentence.

“About 44.3 percent found the sentence of 12 years of prison and a fine of RM 210 million to be proportionate to the crime committed.

“A slightly smaller 40.8 percent found the sentence to be too lenient.

“This suggests that 85.1 percent of the respondents see no need for a lighter sentence or a commutation of the original penalty,” the report stated.

The two stances - proportionate or too lenient - are the two most popular positions across various segments of the population, the survey notes.

“Amongst the Malays, 44.2 percent found it proportionate while 41.4 percent thought that it was too lenient.

“Even amongst BN-leaning respondents, 48.9 percent saw proportionality while a sizeable 32.8 percent perceived leniency.

“And the percentages of those who saw leniency are higher amongst college graduates and those with a household income of RM 4,000 and more,” it said.

1MDB: Najib rests case after nearly 6 years of trial

Najib's judicial review on house arrest addendum postponed

COMMENT | Can home minister declare 7-star hotel as 'prison'?

COMMENT | Najib has not admitted or atoned to seek redemption

COMMENT | Are we seeing dilution of prosecutorial system in M'sia?

COMMENT | Royal addendum - when paperwork gets lost in Madani