I AM going to say something that may surprise some people.
My principal objection to what has happened with Datuk Seri Najib Razak is not the King exercising the constitutional power of mercy.
We have a Constitution. Article 42 provides for pardons, reprieves and respites. The Pardons Board has its constitutional role. The King has his.
We cannot claim to believe in the Constitution only when its processes produce decisions we like.
Najib has now been granted a conditional pardon allowing him to serve the remainder of his initial sentence under house arrest, subject to conditions including payment of a RM50 million fine.
Some Malaysians will agree with it. Many will be furious about it.
But that is not what troubles me most.
The RM50 million is.
UMNO's leadership has now launched a fund asking its members, supporters and ordinary Malaysians to contribute towards Najib’s RM50 million fine.
Think about that for a moment.
And perhaps we should call the party by its historically accurate name when discussing its lineage: UMNO Baru.
The original UMNO—the UMNO of independence, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Dr Ismail, and Tun Hussein Onn—no longer exists. It was struck off in 1988. Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his allies subsequently registered UMNO Baru. The word Baru was later dropped.
History matters.
And so do ordinary UMNO members.
Most of them are exactly like the rest of us.
They wake up every morning and work. They pay mortgages. They worry about school fees. They look after ageing parents. They calculate what groceries cost. They save for their children’s futures.
They love Malaysia.
We may disagree politically, but I know we share the same patriotism and love of country.
And the overwhelming majority of ordinary UMNO members have never received the privileges of the political elite - which specifically includes the ones embroiled currently in multiple corruption cases, including accusations of stealing from the Pilgrimage Fund Board - essentially stealing from amongst the poorest. These same "leaders" are asking ordinary Malaysians to help the former Prime Minister financially.
A man who spent his entire adult working life in politics and had no other career or job.
A man whose SRC conviction went all the way to the Federal Court.
A man who was subsequently convicted by the High Court in another case involving some RM2.3 billion connected with 1MDB.
And let us remember something else.
When police raided six premises linked to Najib in 2018, they reported seizing cash, jewellery, luxury handbags, watches and other valuables eventually valued at as much as RM1.1 billion.
RM1.1 billion. Let that sink in. RM 1.1 billion in his homes.
And now someone earning RM2,500 or RM3,000 a month is being asked to give cash into a fund to help pay RM50 million so that Najib can serve the remainder of his first sentence in the luxury of his Taman Duta estate, or perhaps one of the many condominiums available to him?
That is the part I cannot understand.
Not constitutionally.
Morally.
The King exercised a constitutional power. Whatever one’s personal feelings about that decision, constitutional government means respecting constitutional institutions and processes.
But nobody’s Constitution requires ordinary Malaysians to pay Najib’s fine.
That is a political choice.
And it tells us something about priorities.
Imagine the difference RM50 million could make to struggling families.
Imagine scholarships for children whose parents could never afford university. Or the yearly flood victims who lose their homes in Kelantan. Imagine dialysis treatment. Food programmes. Assistance for single mothers. Better facilities in rural schools. Help for elderly Malaysians who worked their entire lives and have almost nothing.
Instead, we are passing around the collection tin for a former prime minister so that a RM50 million condition can be satisfied.
This is not about hating Najib.
It should never be about hate.
Nor is it about disrespecting the monarchy. Quite the opposite. We should understand the constitutional distinction between the King’s exercise of mercy and what politicians subsequently choose to do with it.
And it isn’t about attacking ordinary UMNO members either.
I respect them enough to ask the question.
Why should you pay?
Why should the farmer, teacher, Grab rider, small businessman, clerk or pensioner reach into his pocket?
Mercy is part of justice.
But so is accountability.
A country loses its moral compass when ordinary people are continually asked to make sacrifices for the powerful while the powerful are continually protected from the consequences ordinary people would have to bear themselves.
So by all means debate the pardon.
Lawyers can debate Article 42. Politicians can argue about precedent. Historians can argue about constitutional convention.
But don’t allow that argument to distract us from the much simpler question sitting in front of us.
RM50 million.
Whose responsibility should that really be?
Certainly not the ordinary Malaysian’s. Certainly not the ordinary UMNO members. And if any individual or corporation comes up with large chunks of it, I would ask why. And I would want an answer.
And let's not forget, Najib has already been sentenced to a further 15 years in jail in the 1MDB case. This includes a fine of RM 11.4 billion.
If he loses that appeal, are UMNO members going to be asked to pay that too? – September 20, 2026
Datuk Dr Vinod Sekhar is the publisher of The Vibes and Chairman of the Petra Group
