KUALA LUMPUR – A royal pardon for disgraced former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak will not be enough to rejuvenate Umno, which has been battered by the loss of Malay support in recent elections, according to Lim Kit Siang.
The DAP veteran noted that, despite helming Malaysia’s most prominent party, Najib led Umno to its first general election defeat in 2018, losing the support of both the majority and minority races.
Lim pointed out that Umno saw its Malay vote bank further shrink in the 15th general election – only several months after Najib was incarcerated for corruption – trailing even behind PAS and Bersatu.
“There are those who believe that the way for Umno to regain its former electoral support is for Najib to be pardoned.
“I do not agree, as otherwise, the Umno lessons of the 14th and 15th general elections would not have happened,” he said in his latest blog post today.
Instead, Lim opined that the only way of restoring Umno as a leading political party is for the entity to play a key role in the reset and return of Malaysia to the original nation-building principles and policies for a plural nation.
This, he added, should include the fight against corruption and the restoration of judicial independence.
“History will tell whether Umno, after two devastating general election results, can play this role and whether the future of Malaysia is to be a model state for the world as a successful plural nation or to be a divided, failed, and kleptocratic state.”
Lim’s statement comes just a day after Umno Supreme Council member Datuk Mohd Puad Zarkashi said Pakatan Harapan leaders are afraid of the possibility that Najib would be pardoned and subsequently rejuvenate Umno.
Puad had said that there is a fear that if Najib walks free, he could pose a threat to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, as the party would grow strong under his and Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s leadership.
This is after Lim and PKR’s Hassan Abdul Karim separately urged the government against granting Najib a pardon, warning that it would be a major disaster for the federal government.
Umno secretary-general Datuk Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki had on April 7 said the party’s Supreme Council had agreed to submit an appeal to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong urging for a full pardon for Najib, and is seeking an audience with His Majesty.
Najib began his 12-year imprisonment on August 23 last year after the Federal Court upheld his guilty verdict and jail sentence in his SRC International Sdn Bhd corruption case. – The Vibes, April 16, 2023
