Analysis: Malaysia PM Anwar set to benefit from Najib’s partial pardon, but don’t expect status quo for UMNO

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Dr Azmi feels that Najib’s return to UMNO will create a “positive vibe” for the party, especially after Malay voters had flocked to the opposition Perikatan Nasional coalition in the previous election following a loss of confidence in UMNO’s ability to represent the Malay ground.

“It will be good for the unity government because UMNO will be in a stronger position to attract the Malay voters,” he said, although he felt it will still be difficult for UMNO to regain its previous strength among Malay voters and go solo.

But Prof Chin believes the “most logical” move for Najib would be to push for two of his sons who are already in politics to run for more prominent positions in the next general election.

Najib’s eldest son Nizar, 46, is a state assemblyman for Peramu Jaya in Pahang’s Pekan constituency, which is considered Najib’s family seat. Najib’s other son Nazifuddin, 40, is chief of UMNO’s Langkawi division.

“I don’t think Najib is going to cause trouble immediately after he comes out. The reason is that he also needs some time to survey his political support,” Prof Chin added.

“Don’t forget we’re talking about events that will happen in two or three years’ time. The scenario could change, so I don’t think we should place too much emphasis on Najib making a comeback.”

NAJIB’S OTHER CHARGES LIKLEY TO PROCEED

Significant factors in these permutations include whether Najib will be granted parole for good behaviour, and whether his previous conviction allows him to run in the 16th General Election due by 2028.

It is also worth noting that Najib is still facing other 1MDB-related charges, and it remains unclear how the partial pardon will affect this.

Dr Azmi feels the partial pardon will put prosecutors in an “awkward position”, but not to the extent of stopping them from proceeding on current or future charges against Najib.

Lawyer Joshua Wu, a partner at Messrs. P.E. LIM, said Najib’s partial pardon will likely not have any effect on his ongoing criminal cases.

“Najib’s only conviction, at the moment, is the one by the High Court in 2020 and later affirmed by the Federal Court in 2022. He is technically innocent until proven guilty, in relation to his ongoing criminal cases,” he told CNA.

The prosecution has until September this year to proceed with trial on outstanding money laundering charges against Najib, after which Najib’s lawyers can apply for an acquittal or a discharge not amounting to an acquittal.

For the charges, Najib faces up to five years’ jail, a maximum fine of RM5 million, or both if convicted.

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Malaysia’s Pardons Board announces decision to cut Najib’s jail term from 12 to 6 years

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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s Pardons Board has announced that former prime minister Najib Razak’s jail sentence for corruption has been reduced from 12 to six years.

The official announcement on Friday (Feb 2) comes after the Pardons Board met on Jan 29.

CNA reported on Jan 31, citing sources including senior government officials, that Najib will have his jail term halved and fine reduced under a partial royal pardon.

Najib, 70, has served less than two years of his prison term for his role in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) case.

With the reduction in the jail term, Najib has agreed that he will be released on Aug 23, 2028, the statement said. 

The Pardons Board also reduced his RM210 million (US$44.5 million) fine to RM50 million.

But if the fine is not paid, one year will be added to Najib’s prison sentence and he will be released on Aug 23, 2029, the Board added.

Speculation about a potential pardon went into overdrive after Dr Zaliha Mustafa, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories), confirmed on Tuesday that the board had met on Monday.

The meeting was one of Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin’s last official tasks before he stepped down as Malaysia’s king on Jan 31 and handed the role to Johor ruler Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar under the country’s unique rotation system for its nine royal state households.

Najib was Malaysia’s prime minister for nine years until May 2018 and its first PM to be imprisoned. He began serving his jail term in August 2022 after two failed appeals to overturn his conviction at a Malaysian High Court two years earlier.

The charges involved the transfer of RM42 million from SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1MDB, into his personal bank accounts in 2014 and 2015.

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, and was sentenced to 12 years in jail and fined RM210 million. The fine remains unsettled.

He is also facing several other charges in relation to the 1MDB scandal, including the laundering of RM27 million involving funds from SRC International.

Najib’s lawyers have applied to dismiss this money laundering case, and the court has said he can apply for an acquittal, or a discharge not amounting to an acquittal if prosecutors are not prepared to proceed with the trial in September, local media reported.

An ex-United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) president, he is still believed to wield huge influence in the party, which is part of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s unity government.

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India releases pigeon accused of spying for China

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NEW DELHI: A pigeon that spent eight months in Indian police custody has been released after it was finally cleared of being a suspected Chinese spy. The bird was caught at a port in the financial capital Mumbai with “messages written in a Chinese-like script” on its wings, the TimesContinue Reading

North Korea fires multiple cruise missiles into West Sea

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A nuclear-powered submarine was on Kim’s strategic weapons wish list set out at a key party congress in 2021, along with a hypersonic warhead, spy satellites and solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles. During his visit to the dockyard, Kim was briefed on various warships under construction as well as preparations forContinue Reading

Travel guide to Wuxi, China: Cherry blossoms, ancient waterways, an epic Three Kingdoms TV drama set

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Part of the draw is the city’s close affinity with water, where you can do an early morning stroll around the vast Lake Taihu or take a cruise down the Grand Canal.

But Wuxi’s star attraction is its flower blossoms. Every year, hordes of tourists descend upon the city to catch a glimpse of its famed cherry blossoms, along with verdant lotus blooms, plum blossoms, peach blossoms, lush bamboo groves and even gorgeous lavender fields.

Wuxi shares a surprising number of similarities with Singapore. Locals and residents tell me that Wuxi is a clean, affluent, relatively smaller city that is centrally located which makes it easy to travel around Jiangsu.  

Wuxi may not be one of Singaporeans’ top choices now, but you can be sure that it’s only a matter of time before more people catch wind of it.

1. CHASE THE CHERRY BLOSSOMS AT TURTLE HEAD ISLAND

When it comes to catching cherry blossoms, the first place that immediately comes to mind would be Japan, Korea and Taiwan. But Wuxi still remains a secret, to Singaporeans at least. The best place to view the cherry blossoms is at Yuantouzhu (Turtle Head Island), a peninsular situated at the northwest side of Taihu Lake, the third-largest freshwater lake in China. It gets the name for its huge rocks protruding into the lake, appearing as if a swimming turtle tossing its head.

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Indonesia Elections 2024: Is President Jokowi adopting an ‘Obama-style’ strategy in campaigning for Prabowo?

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SINGAPORE: Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s increasingly visible support for presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto has been likened by observers to how United States presidents formally endorse and even campaign on behalf of their preferred candidates, albeit with an Indonesian twist.

They say Mr Widodo’s obvious preference for Mr Prabowo through his various indirect shows of support in the run-up to the Feb 14 polls is unprecedented in Indonesian politics and could undermine public confidence in the presidency as an institution and over the electoral process going forward.

President Jokowi is Indonesia’s second two-term president since it adopted direct presidential elections in 2004. 

But by all accounts, he has been nothing like Mr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono who served two terms till 2014 and remained officially neutral in the polls that year, adhering to societal traditions that a non-running president should remain above politics during elections.

In contrast, Mr Widodo, who’s from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), has participated in events such as state assistance programmes and attended cosy meals with both Mr Prabowo and members of the latter’s coalition network. 

The incumbent president has also returned regularly to the critical battleground of Central Java in the weeks before the election in what his office describes as work trips, but some analysts view as open campaigning for Mr Prabowo, who heads the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) party, according to Asia News Network. 

Observers say Mr Jokowi’s actions are similar to those of many outgoing US presidents barred from contesting a third term. 

Dr Ambang Priyonggo, Assistant Professor of Political Communication at the Department of Digital Journalism of the Multimedia Nusantara University, told CNA that Mr Widodo’s political maneuvering of endorsing a preferred successor is a new style of campaigning in Indonesia.

“This presidential endorsement is similar to the US, where it’s usual for a sitting president to back not just their favoured presidential candidate, but also those running for the Senate, the House of Representatives, and governorships,” he said.

In the US, when a president is not contesting another term, it’s common to endorse the nominee of their party though it’s not mandatory to do so.

The latest example was in the 2016 election when outgoing president Barack Obama not only endorsed Mrs Hillary Clinton but also actively campaigned for her at multiple large rallies in key swing states. 

Similar endorsements were seen in the 56th presidential election when Mr George W Bush supported Mr John McCain in 2008, Mr Bill Clinton backed Mr Al Gore in 1999 for the 2000 election, and Mr Ronald Reagan endorsed Mr HW Bush in 1988 for the 51st election.

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Commentary: The Ukraine-born beauty queen and what it means to be Japanese

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WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE JAPANESE?

An easy way to look at it is to consider the case of a university professor who took Canadian citizenship, forfeiting her Japanese nationality as a result. (The country bans dual citizenship, though in practice often turns a blind eye to those who possess it.)

Legally, the woman, who went unnamed in a Mainichi Shimbun interview, said she found herself being treated as an illegal foreign resident while staying in her home country. The law says one thing; most, however, would surely still think of her as Japanese.

Similarly, the accomplishments of Syukuro Manabe, joint winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics, are still celebrated as achievements for the country as a whole despite his having switched his citizenship to the United States years ago. 

There are vast swathes of grey in this debate. Japanese-ness clearly can be something more than a piece of paper. While there’s no doubt that much of the Miss Japan criticism comes from racists and online trolls, some of it is more considered, such as that of the manga author Mayumi Kurata. 

“The person chosen as Miss Japan is very beautiful. However, I had interpreted Miss Japan as someone whose beauty represents the Japanese people,” she wrote on Twitter. “She doesn’t fit that definition; her beauty is different from Japanese beauty.” In another post she added, “‘Japanese-ness’ and ‘Japan-ness’ exist in a strict sense.”

At a time when, in much of the Western world, celebration of racial identity is encouraged like never before, it seems somewhat incongruous to say that there is something wrong with the Japanese taking pride in their inherent cultural traits and combined history.

Though there might not be a strict definition of Japanese beauty or even what it means to be Japanese, that’s true of any ethnicity; these groupings might be social constructs rather than measurable genetic differences, but as Kurata notes, that doesn’t make them any less real.

Before you settle on a stance on this question, what are your views on Brooke Bruk-Jackson, a blonde, white woman who won Miss Universe Zimbabwe last year? That triggered a backlash in some sectors despite Bruk-Jackson being born in Harare.

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US, Japan conduct joint naval drills

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The US and Japanese navies held joint exercises in the Philippine Sea this week, in a show of force as tensions with China and North Korea rise. Washington and Beijing are at loggerheads over a raft of issues, from chips to tariffs, but both have been alarmed by the growingContinue Reading