On the eve of a court decision which could allow former Prime Minister Najib Razak to serve the remainder of his jail term under house arrest, his residence was suddenly alive with activities as if they were preparing for an early Christmas. Supporters had arrived by truckloads to attend special “solat hajat” prayers. But there was something missing – UMNO top leaders.
Najib’s successor, UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had only expressed hope that his former boss will be granted a royal pardon, justifying thatNajib has served three years in prison and deserves proper consideration for a full royal pardon. Other leaders of the once dominant ruling party United Malays National Organization (UMNO) were generally silent.
Either UMNO, a governing partner of Madani government, did not want to give away an impression that the judiciary can be manipulated by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to free the former UMNO president, or they suddenly realized that Najib would do more good celebrating Christmas in Kajang Prison than in his luxury mansion at Jalan Langgak Duta.
But something stranger happened on Monday (December 22) when Reuters published a flash titled “Malaysia High Court judge orders Najib to be released from jail for home arrest”, ahead of a verdict from High Court judge Alice Loke Yee Ching, who was still reading out her ruling. The Reuters news flash was picked up by other media outlets, including Singapore’s Straits Times and Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post (SCMP).
The burning question is whether Reuters had indeed made a silly mistake, or had actually received an insider leak pointing to the release of Najib, but was reversed at the eleventh hour by PM Anwar after disagreements from some component parties within a complex multi-coalition Unity Government, which also included UMNO-led Barisan Nasional.
Reuters’ breaking news sparked not only confusion among people on social media eagerly waiting to see if the judiciary would be compromised again to appease the corrupt UMNO, but also anger among Najib supporters, including the notorious UMNO Chief Akmal Saleh, who has called for UMNO’s exit from the government as a result of the High Court’s ruling.
It’s not rocket science that Anwar could easily interfere to release Najib. After all, Mr Anwar had fiercely condemned people who criticised his administration’s decision to slash by half Najib’s jail sentence to 6 years and reduced his fine to RM50 million from RM210 million – a 75% discount. The despicable Premier had also lectured critics to have “compassion” for the crook who had stolen billions.
Besides, his loyal errand boy – Home Minister Saifudin Nasution – already expressed the government’s readiness to give Najib the privilege of a house detention, revealing as early as July 2025 that a proposed bill to allow house arrest as an alternative to prison time is in its final phase. Even if it’s not a law yet, it could be bulldozed based on the previous King Sultan Abdullah royal addendum.
So, what has changed between July and December? It’s none other than the Sabah election, which saw Anwar-led Pakatan Harapan – an alliance of Anwar’s PKR, DAP and Amanah – annihilated. Fresh from the crushing defeat, leading to the Democratic Action Party (DAP) demanding reforms within 6 months, an early release for Najib now will be a political suicide for Anwar.
While the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s ruling means the 72-year-old will continue serving his jail term at Selangor’s Kajang Prison, it’s still too early to celebrate as the defence has indicated it will file an appeal. Najib still has two chances – the Appeal Court and the Federal Court to reverse Justice Alice Loke’s decision. The only reason she could independently deliver her verdict is due to non-interference from the executive branch, at least this round.
Yes, any interference from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) would affect the judicial independence. Instructions from the PMO would decide whether the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) appeals or not to appeals a court’s ruling. The PMO could also determine who among the judges would sit in which case through decisions from the friendly Chief Justice.
In Najib’s latest setback, the court found that a purported royal addendum order issued by the previous Agong (King), which Najib insisted authorised him to serve a reduced sentence under house arrest, was not valid as it must require the involvement of the Pardons Board. The High Court said the King must exercise his power and functions in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Constitution.
Judge Alice Loke ruled that although clemency is a royal prerogative, and that the royal addendum order’s existence was not in dispute, a pardon must be deliberated on or approved by the Pardons Board, as required under Article 42 of the Federal Constitution. But it was not deliberated on or decided at the 61st Pardons Board meeting in January 2024 when the board agreed to reduce Najib’s sentence.
“The King cannot decide independently of the Pardons Board,” – Justice Loke said in her judgment. “Consequently, it is not a valid order. The respondents have no power and no duty to obey or enforce it. Conversely the applicant has no right to the relief of mandamus. In the circumstance, the judicial review application is therefore dismissed,” – she said.
Crucially, Judge Loke ruled that the Pardons Board had provided its advice on a proposed full pardon for Najib as well as a reduction of his prison term during the meeting, but house arrest was not mentioned. She said King Sultan Abdullah of Pahang had only made one decision during the meeting held on Jan 29, 2024 – on the reduction of the prison term and fine.
Following the historic defeat of the long ruling government of Barisan Nasional in the 2018 General Election, Najib Razak was arrested and charged with corruption. Mr Najib began his jail term in August 2022 after he was found guilty of three counts of criminal breach of trust, three counts of money laundering and one count of abuse of power by the High Court in July 2020.
The charges involved the transfer of RM42 million from SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) – the state investment fund Najib founded in 2009 – into his personal bank accounts in 2014 and 2015. Najib, a former prime minister from 2009 to 2018, was sentenced to 12 years in jail and fined RM210 million.
Still, Judge Alice Loke’s decision has raised questions why the Anwar government had to lie about the existence of the royal addendum from the beginning. If Alice could easily deduce that the royal addendum is invalid and unenforceable, the government did not have to work hand-in-glove with the AGC to cover up one lie with another lie.
The controversial royal addendum has been suspected to exist based on contradiction, confusion and lies within Anwar’s own government. Multiple government authorities, including Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution and members of the pardons board, had initially denied knowledge of the document for months despite the former king’s office saying an addendum had been issued.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s months of silence and flip-flopping, instead of an outright denial of the existence of the addendum, was the biggest red flag that the document existed. Whether it was a lame strategy to hide the addendum fearing public anger, or merely a deliberate self-inflicted damage to help Najib build a strong case, Anwar’s plan ultimately boomeranged.
Worse, when the premier could not hide the existence of the royal document anymore, he conveniently pointed fingers at the AGC, arguing that the addendum was submitted to the Attorney General’s Chambers, not to him or any member of the Pardons Board. But all the Attorney Generals – whether the previous or the current – report to him, no?
Anwar further washed his hands, arguing that he was no longer a member of the Pardons Board, having been appointed before 2023 when he served as Federal Territories minister. After that, he appointed Dr Zaliha Mustafa to attend meetings in his place. Again, all the Federal Territories ministers – whether the previous Zaliha or the current Hannah Yeoh – report to him, no?
Even if the AGC had already forwarded the royal addendum to the new King Sultan Ibrahim of Johor as claimed, it’s hard to believe that only the Attorney General and the Monarch knew about its existence and kept the entire Madani government in the dark. It was because Anwar chose to play hide and seek due to political agendas that a simple unenforceable document has created so much problems.
In the same breath, High Court Judge Alice Loke’s decision also means crooked Najib Razak – even the Pahang Palace – had lied when insisted that the Pardon Board’s decision was accompanied by an addendum order issued by then-King Sultan Abdullah that allowed Najib to serve the remainder of his jail term at home.
It simply means the addendum had actually been backdated, which explains why it took Najib a few months after a royal pardon was granted to start crowing about a royal addendum. It also explains why the Home Minister said the document was merely hearsay. However, it is also possible that PM Anwar had deliberately hidden the document, leading to flip-flopping between him and his own minister.
There are two parts to the controversy – a royal pardon and a royal addendum. While the “partial” royal pardon had been successfully bulldozed, even though it was arguably done illegally as Najib did not serve at least one-third of his prison sentence before any pardon can be considered, the royal addendum is totally unenforceable as there isn’t any provision for a house arrest in Malaysia.
At best, Sultan Abdullah might have been persuaded and scammed by Najib into signing the dubious decree at the last minute before the monarch was replaced by Sultan Ibrahim. At worst, the Pahang Sultan knew it was illegal but signed it anyway as birds of a feather flock together. When it has become a hot potato, the Pahang Palace hid behind the judiciary to avoid embarrassment.
Heck, the issue has become so complicated and suspicious due to lies, collusion, cover-up, abuse of power, and illegal manoeuvres that it cannot be resolved without incriminating the Attorney-General’s Chambers, Najib, Anwar or Sultan Abdullah. This is the only explanation why King Sultan Ibrahim has issued his decree through the AGC for everything to start all over again.
It also means the premier had lied through his teeth when he insisted that he was powerless, claiming Najib’s royal pardon is under the sole discretion of the King. But an amendment to the Federal Constitution in 1994 already removed the absolute discretion of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to grant pardons; otherwise, you don’t need a Pardons Board to begin with.
Article 40(1A) stipulates that all powers of the King (including the power to grant pardons) must be exercised in accordance with the advice of the appropriate person or body of persons, and he shall accept such advice. Therefore, the King had actually acted on the advice of the Pardons Board because he no longer possessed absolute power like before 1994.
And Judge Alice’s ruling that “The King cannot decide independently of the Pardons Board” proves that Najib had lied, the previous King had illegally signed off the addendum, and PM Anwar had hoodwinked the voters about the absolute power of the King to pardon, but deliberately hid the fact that the power is subject to the Pardons Board’s advice.
Had Anwar’s party PKR and Pakatan Harapan not suffered a total wipeout in the Sabah election, Reuters may not have to retract its news flash titled “Malaysia High Court judge orders Najib to be released from jail for home arrest”. Make no mistake – the PM controls the Pardons Board, decides the AGC, influences the Judiciary, and advises the King. Najib’s bad fortune is due to the Sabahans.
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- SRC Trial – Here’re 10 Points Any First Year Law Student Can Use To Nail Najib & Send The Crook To Jail
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December 22nd, 2025 by financetwitter
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