Here’s Why Najib’s Early Release from Prison Doesn’t Mean That He’s Going to Run for Elections Again

Najib will be released early from prison.

Yes, you read that right — former prime minister Najib Razak, who was sentenced to 12 years in jail in the 1MDB corruption case, will have his sentence halved.

It’s been a hot minute, but here’s what you need to know.

Najib’s Sentence Reduced to Six Years After Partial Royal Pardon

On Tuesday (2 February), Malaysia’s Pardons Board announced that Najib’s sentence for corruption would be reduced from 12 years to six years after a partial royal pardon was granted.

In Singaporean 3.5x terms, this means Najib will now need to serve only less than two years of jail time (we’re kidding). 

This comes after the 70-year-old served less than two years of his prison term.

Najib’s RM210 million fine has also been reduced to RM50 million.

Or, in Singaporean’s 3.5x terms once again, from S$60 million to approximately S$14 million.

However, this isn’t without any conditions attached — if the fine is not paid, one year will be added to Najib’s jail term, meaning he’ll only be released in August 2029.

You might be thinking: Wah, crazy sia, “discount” on sentence.

But it’s not that surprising — after all, Malaysia’s incumbent prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, was once granted a full royal pardon when he was jailed for sodomy.

You can read this to find out more about how pardons work.

Najib’s Early Release from Prison Does Not Mean He Can Run for Elections

But the world is not equal — Anwar might be prime minister currently despite having served part of his jail term for sodomy, but it’s unlikely that we’ll ever see Najib as prime minister again.

In fact, it’s unlikely that we’ll even see Najib running for elections again. The pardon is pointless for his political career in the near future.

The Malaysian Constitution states that if you’re convicted of an offence by a court of law in the federation (which Najib was) and sentenced to imprisonment of more than a year (which Najib, obviously, also was), you’re disqualified from elections for five years.

So, even if Najib is released early from prison, he cannot run for elections for five years.

This is unless Najib is given a “free pardon” by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (the Malaysian King) or his disqualification is removed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

It doesn’t seem like the partial pardon granted to Najib was a “free pardon”, nor has Najib’s disqualification been removed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

So the conclusion is this — you probably won’t see Najib’s face in newspapers for anything elections-related anytime soon lah.

What if Najib was in Singapore?

You might have heard of a similar type of disqualification from elections in Singapore — here’s what it is.

In Singapore, there’s no such thing as a five-year disqualification from elections. It’s disqualification for the rest of your life.

A person is plainly disqualified from being a candidate for election if the person has been convicted of an offence by a Singapore or Malaysian court and sentenced to jiak kali png for more than one year.

So, if Najib were in Singapore, you’d never see him in Parliament lah.