Najib Dilemma Sows Discord in Malaysia’s Unity Government

The 6 January public rally supporting former Prime Minister Najib Razak’s bid to serve his prison sentence at home was almost like a reunion. The rally was organised by Perikatan Nasional (PN) and saw the presence of a senior leader from Barisan Nasional (BN). The Najib issue has brought BN and PN closer, causing division within the sitting administration. This creates both legal and political dilemmas for the Unity Government.

The rally was planned as a joint event by leaders from the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS). UMNO and BN are part of the Unity Government led by Pakatan Harapan (PH), while PAS is part of PN. BN and PN had led the Malaysian federal government from 2020 until the general election in November 2022. Just three days prior, the National Palace issued a statement emphasising the role of the Pardons Board and the powers of the King, currently the Sultan of Johor. It was the clearest indication from the palace that the demonstration should be called off. As a result, UMNO declared that it would not join the rally.

The main subject of the rally was a decree, locally referred to as Titah Adendum made by the previous King, the Sultan of Pahang, for Najib to be placed under house arrest to serve out the remainder of his prison sentence. The rally was scheduled to coincide with Court of Appeal proceedings on Najib’s application to enforce the decree. Najib’s bid for house arrest had been earlier rejected by the High Court in July 2024.

The decree presents the PH-led government with a legal dilemma. Two government agencies, the Prisons Department and the Legal Division of the Prime Minister’s Department — the latter of which acts as the secretariat for the Pardons Board — have declared they did not have knowledge of the decree. PH’s Dr Zaliha Mustafa, the Minister of Federal Territories who is a member of the Pardons Board, also claimed that she was not aware of the decree. However, the Pahang palace, in a letter to Najib’s son Nizar Najib, confirmed the existence of the supplementary decree (the son is an UMNO member and also part of Pahang State Executive Committee). It is now for the Malaysian courts to decide whether the decree should be executed.

The status of the decree is unclear for now. But what is clear is that the Najib issue has continued to be a threat to the PH-BN partnership and the Unity Government.

The existence of the decree was first revealed by Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Hamidi last April through an affidavit. The UMNO president said that he was shown a digital copy of the decree by Minister of International Trade and Industry Tengku Zafrul Aziz (who is a UMNO Supreme Council member). Zafrul claimed that his party leader’s affidavit contained factual errors, and he wanted to file his own affidavit. But a court rejected Zafrul’s attempt to file an affidavit. The incident was a rare public disagreement between two Cabinet ministers.

The Najib issue is also presenting the Unity Government with a political dilemma. PAS also decided to proceed with the rally, as disunity within the federal government would likely benefit the opposition. PAS and its PN partner Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) were represented by senior leaders. PAS’s Secretary-General Takiyuddin Hassan and Bersatu deputy president and Opposition Leader Hamzah Zainudin, were among those seen entering the courtroom where Najib’s application was being heard. Akmal Saleh, the party’s Youth Chief, joined the rally ostensibly in his personal capacity. But his participation rendered UMNO’s official position not to join the rally meaningless, given that he ranks sixth in the party and leads its biggest unit. Grassroots UMNO leaders from Selangor and Negeri Sembilan were also seen joining the event. UMNO’s partner in BN, the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) held a separate gathering at the Batu Caves Hindu temple.

In another public disagreement, the Minister of Law and Institutional Reform Azalina Othman Said and the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) are also not on the same page on how public discussion on the decree should be managed. The AGC had applied for a gag order over Najib’s Titah Adendum case. Following the application, another BN component member, the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) spoke up against the move by AGC. MCA president Wee Ka Siong had previously criticised the government’s handling of the decree issue.

UMNO’s support for the former Prime Minister is likely driven by nostalgia. Najib, who was Prime Minister from 2009 to 2018, presided over an era when UMNO dominated the country’s political landscape.

PN’s motivation in supporting Najib is more insidious: it is an opportunity for the opposition to destabilise the government. Even if PN does not succeed in bringing down the government immediately, it can at least force the government parties to go into the general election as members of a dysfunctional and divided administration. PN’s gambit has already exposed fissures in the ruling government and its institutions. UMNO Youth Chief Akmal has questioned the process of pardoning Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in 2018 — this is tantamount to a direct challenge to the PH leader. PH and BN cannot enter the general election together with such a divisive issue in the headlines.

In 2018, BN, as the incumbent government, contested the general election in a defensive mode to protect Najib and the dubious 1MDB deals. It lost federal power for the first time. It would be unwise for BN and UMNO to gamble their federal positions for the second time to defend Najib.

BN must find a way to move on from Najib before the next general election, or it will drag PH and the Unity Government down. The challenge for BN is to do it tactfully and not to be seen as acting under PH’s directions.

2025/24