'Government was in the room': Anwar warned against passing the buck over Najib's homecoming

Vocal rights group Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) has challenged Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to admit responsibility for what it described as a disastrous episode in the country’s fight against corruption, following the homecoming of convicted former leader Najib Razak yesterday, which has sparked a debate on the principle of equality before the law in Malaysia.

LFL said Anwar and government leaders "must stop pretending that they had nothing to do with it".

"The prime minister cannot act as if he had no part in this," said LFL director Rania Aljunied, who questioned Anwar's social media post yesterday in which he shared a hadith (sayings of Prophet Muhammad) on equal punishment regardless of a person’s standing.

"It is misleading to present himself now as a bystander. The hadith applies first to those in power. It does not remove the government’s responsibility. It raises the standard the government must meet," she added.

Quoting from a palace statement on Nov 7 that the government's representatives – Federal Territories Minister Hannah Yeoh and Attorney-General Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar – were both present to advise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong during a Pardons Board meeting which allowed Najib to return home, LFL said it proved that the decision was an act of the government.

"Under Article 40(1A), His Majesty the King is bound to accept the advice tendered by the Pardons Board.

"It must be remembered that the Board includes the attorney-general and the minister responsible for the federal territories. So the order was made on the advice of the Board, and the government was in the room."

It said the Agong can act on his own discretion only within the limited situations stated in Article 40 of the Federal Constitution.

"When it comes to the power of pardon, the King acts upon advice."

On Sept 18, Najib was granted a conditional pardon by Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, following a meeting of the Federal Territories Pardons Board.

Yesterday, Najib began serving the remainder of his reduced prison sentence under house arrest at his plush mansion in Taman Duta, Kuala Lumpur.

Najib was sentenced to 12 years' jail and fined RM210 million over his conviction for abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering involving RM42 million belonging to SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1MDB.

LFL said the move was "a disaster for our country’s international reputation".

"The 1MDB corruption scandal was of global proportion, and the world was watching to see if the rule of law and financial integrity would be upheld in Malaysia," it said.

It compared Najib's fate to that of a 43-year-old unemployed father of five in Kelantan, who was sentenced to six months in jail last month for stealing RM394 worth of groceries from a supermarket.

"Will he get the same treatment as Najib?" asked Rania.

LFL said any move to introduce house arrest laws should specify the conditions for prisoners applying for it, adding that the decision should not be made "behind closed doors".

"The government must not pick and choose who gets house arrest, and there must be no hidden agendas."