Letters | Who wins and loses after Najib’s conviction in Malaysia’s IMDB corruption trial?

Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak has been convicted on seven charges related to the 1MDB scandal, sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined 210 million ringgit (US$49.3 million). Najib’s political future is certainly over, despite his massive popularity. However, he may receive a royal pardon should his appeal fail.

Najib’s party, the United Malays National Organisation (Umno), will also be a big loser. This Malay nationalist party, which held power for 61 years, has stood by Najib, and several Umno leaders, including party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, also facing corruption charges.

Umno’s immediate uncertainty is whether its untainted leaders, such as party vice-president Mohamad Hassan, will lead a purge. This will complicate Umno’s plans to win the premiership in a snap general election, which pundits have predicted, if called, would favour Umno.

The third loser is Hadi Awang’s Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS), which supported Najib. The party’s attempt to rehabilitate its image by being part of the Perikatan Nasional government, a Malay ethnocentric government, will be also negatively affected.

Najib’s conviction strengthens Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin against a resurgent Umno. Muhyiddin can now market his party as “clean” and engineer a back-door takeover of Umno with the help of untainted Umno leaders.