Backlash in Malaysia to Najib’s house arrest bid rains on PM Anwar’s PKR parade

Malaysia’s People’s Justice Party (PKR), the political vehicle of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, has been forced to defend its much-vaunted reform agenda as momentum gathers behind ex-national leader Najib Razak’s bid to serve the rest of his corruption sentence under house arrest.

Najib’s recent filing of a court application left many among the Malaysian public with their mouths agape. It seeks to compel Anwar’s government to confirm the existence of a document signed by the country’s former king that Najib’s legal team says would allow the jailed former prime minister to swap his stay in Kajang Prison for the comfort of his own home.

The move comes mere months after Malaysia’s pardons board had halved Najib’s 12-year jail term for stealing 42 million ringgit (US$8.8 million) from a former unit of scandal-ridden state fund 1MDB, and slashing his fine from 210 million ringgit to 50 million ringgit.

As cries of impunity and special treatment rang out last week, Anwar was thrust onto the back foot by his own deputy – Ahmad Zahid Hamidi – who reportedly filed an affidavit in support of Najib’s application.

“There are those shouting … as though reforms have crumbled after the DPM’s [deputy prime minister’s] affidavit,” Anwar told 5,000 party members gathered on Sunday to celebrate PKR’s 25th anniversary.