Will Najib’s house arrest derail or help UMNO-PAS unity plans?

Zurairi A.R. (0:02)

This is a podcast by The Straits Times.

Salam man, apa kabar semua. I hope you have had a good Malaysia Day Rest. I'm Zurairi AR, Assistant Foreign Editor at The Straits Times. Welcome to another Asian Insider episode where we go across the courseway to explore and discuss Malaysia's current affairs or trends. And in case you missed it, we are now, the Malaysian episodes, are out once a month. So as always, I'm joined by our Malaysia Bureau Chief, Shannon Teoh. Last episode, if you remember, we talked about high rocks. Well, given what happened in Beijing, I hope you're not planning on skipping any bathroom breaks or anything during your next run.

Shannon Teoh (0:47)

Don't worry, high rocks has like 8 kilometers of running for each race. I don't even run 8 kilometers a month, I think. So don't worry, I'll stick to the gyms, train and let other people, pun intended, suffer the runs.

Zurairi A.R. (1:01)

Well, still got time.

And this episode, we've got one of the most insightful in our stable of political observers. Please welcome Dr. Syaza Shukri, Associate Professor of Political Science at the International Islamic University of Malaysia, or as we call it, UIA. Welcome Dr. Syaza.

Syaza Shukri (1:17)

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Zurairi A.R. (1:19)

Yeah. Thank you for making some time for us. I mean, I finally got to chat with you after so many years of knowing you by reputation.

Since my old employer. Okay Syaza, before we dive in, right, we're sure you've been watching Malaysian politics very closely this past few months and it's been heating up, to be honest, in the past few days actually, especially when it comes to Islam and Malay politics, which is very much your specialty. So, tell us, what's been keeping you busy lately? Any new research, new studies or anything that you're looking at?

Syaza Shukri (1:52)

Yeah, interestingly, actually I'm a sabbatical right now. I'm on sabbatical for the next few months. However, given the situation right now, like you said, about Malaysian politics, it has kept me busy, to be honest, going here and there. So, the sabbatical comes at the right time, I would say, so I can do things like this. But I'm also wrapping up a book actually right now, and also starting another book, but that's not really on Malaysian politics. I'm looking more at a global perspective on the idea of civilization.

But yeah, on top of that, doing all the other Malaysian, going around Malaysia, talking about politics with people, it's been fun.

Zurairi A.R. (2:31)

If I'm not mistaken, you have a, was it a journal of people on Friday Sermons?

Syaza Shukri (2:35)

I'm sorry, on what?

Zurairi A.R. (2:36)

Friday Sermons.

Syaza Shukri (2:36)

On Friday Sermons, yeah, yeah, yeah. Kutbah Jumat. So that one was, yes, published by ISIS, because I'm also a visiting fellow over there. So that was interesting. I think it's gaining traction now.

Zurairi A.R. (2:48)

I look at, yeah, it's a very specific niche of my interest because it, yeah, in my previous employer and probably a couple of years back, we sort of like monitored Friday Sermons to see what is being said in more. So it's been like, it's like a very, very, very niche interest of mine. So yeah, if anyone is interested in that, please look for Syaza's journal on that.

Syaza Shukri (3:11)

Thanks for the promotion.

Zurairi A.R. (3:12)

Well, you've picked a good time to be on SoiBatical, like you said.

But because, well, there's no shortage of drama in Malaysia, and it's been ramping up in these past few weeks. So on today's episode, we've got two big topics for our listeners. So first, we're going to unpack the breaking news that former Prime Minister Najib Razak has been granted, conditional, relax, house arrest, and what this means for the Unity Government, basically. And then we'll dive into the back-to-back party congresses. We have UMNO, we had PAS, two parties whose, I guess, relationship over the decades have been off and then on, and then off, and I guess now it's on again. Okay, let's get to it.

So let's start with the huge breaking news. The Federal Territories Pardons Board, chaired by the king himself, Sultan Ibrahim, has committed former Prime Minister Najib Razak's remaining jail term into house arrest. But this is provided that he can pay 50 million ringgit fine. So of course, this follows his conviction in the SRC International Case in 2022

And we have seen the aftermath so far. We saw Transport Minister Anthony Loke offering to resign. And Najib, through his lawyer, has sort of like complained that he cannot really have paid the 50 million ringgit fine, because his assets and account are frozen. And despite him saying, it's fine, people, you don't need to pay or donate for my fine. I mean, they have collected close to 1 million ringgit so far to pay for this. Wow, this is really, really astounding to me. So Shannon, first, walk up through these details. I mean, how this decision actually came about? I'm like, we first heard it during the week of UMNO General Assembly. I was away on holiday that week, and then it was deferred, I guess. So what are the exact conditions of this current house arrest? Also, what happened to his other sentences? I guess what our listeners want to know is that, will we see a return of Najib to the public in a few years even? Or even when? When is that?