Malaysia pauses Najib’s pardon decision amid public backlash

Malaysia’s Pardons Board has postponed discussions on disgraced former leader Najib Razak’s pardon application, days after widespread public outrage over the possibility that he could walk free from his corruption conviction.

The country has been in an uproar since it was revealed earlier this week that Najib’s application for clemency was on the agenda of the board’s meeting, chaired by King Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar.

However, Putrajaya said on Friday the king, constitutionally empowered to grant pardons to convicted felons serving their sentences, had decreed that discussion on Najib’s application be “postponed to the next Pardons Board meeting that will be held in future”.

The king, meanwhile, granted pardons to 65 convicts effective from Friday, the government said in a statement.

The statement came just moments after Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, president of Najib’s Umno party, expressed optimism of a positive outcome. “Hopefully there will be great news today,” Zahid, who is also Malaysia’s deputy prime minister, said in his opening speech at the party’s general assembly on Friday, after rolling out a red-carpet welcome for Najib’s wife, Rosmah Mansor.

Umno has consistently pushed for a full pardon for Najib, who has maintained his innocence and claimed that his conviction was politically motivated.