‘I am the father of the nation’: Anwar defends comments on Najib’s apology

Anwar Ibrahim has angrily defended his statement welcoming an apology from Najib Razak, saying it is not fair to attack the jailed leader only over the 1MDB scandal that was at the center of a Pakatan Harapan (PH) campaign to Barisan Nasional government for six years. past.

Anwar said his response to Najib’s apology last week – in which the former prime minister stopped short of admitting guilt over the billions of dollars in illegal transfers that sparked one of the biggest corruption scandals in recent years – was done responsibly as a leader of the country.

“I am the prime minister, I am the father of the nation,” he said during a speech in Perak yesterday.

“This man said something, what do you want me to do? I said we found it welcome.

“Oh, (they get) angry! What is this! What kind of behavior is this? What kind of people?” Anwar said.

On October 24, in a rare apology read by his eldest son Nizar, Najib said he took responsibility for the scandal that took place under his watch as prime minister and finance minister.

Najib, however, maintained his innocence regarding 1MDB’s large-scale cash transfers.

“To be held legally responsible for something that I did not initiate or have no knowledge of is unfair to me, and I hope and pray that the legal proceedings will be in my favor and prove my innocence” , his statement said.

It came ahead of a court ruling this week on whether he should defend himself in another case linked to 1MDB over money laundering and corruption.

Anwar is under pressure from Najib loyalists, family members and Umno – the party whose support was crucial in helping him realize his ambitions to become prime minister in 2022 – to release the former leader by recommending a full royal pardon, similar to the pardon policy granted to Anwar himself in 2018 on the recommendation of then Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

However, Najib, who is serving a 12-year prison sentence for embezzling RM42 million in SRC International funds, received only a partial pardon in the form of a reduction in his sentence from 12 years to six years and his fine from RM210 million to RM . RM50 million.

Many Umno leaders were also angered by the revelation that there was an addendum to the partial pardon in which former Agong, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, had ordered Najib to serve the reduced sentence under house arrest.

Najib is currently appealing the Supreme Court’s July ruling, which dismissed the claim of the existence of a royal addendum as “hearsay.”

Anwar yesterday launched his signature attack on those who criticized him for welcoming Najib’s apology, accusing them of ignoring others who had “stolen billions of ringgit”

“When they attack, they only attack one person.

“It’s not fair to attack (just) one person. Those who attack have robbed more,” Anwar said.

Anwar was criticized, among others, by the former head of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), the body at the center of the investigations that led to Najib’s conviction and imprisonment in 2022.

Latheefa Koya took the Prime Minister to task, saying he has “no business and no authority” to make such a comment.

“As Najib maintains his innocence, Anwar’s acceptance condones the crime. It emboldens the corrupt, ridicules the courts and undermines the MACC.

‘Is this the prelude to Najib’s release under house arrest?’ she asked.

Lawyer Rafique Rashid echoed her sentiments, saying that as prime minister, Anwar must side with the millions of Malaysians angry over the 1MDB scandal that has eaten away at the public purse and led to a raft of new taxes being imposed on the people.

“Everyone has the right to abuse Najib Razak and everyone also has the right to tell the government not to accept the apology.

“How can the Prime Minister say, ‘Yes, we welcome it’ within 24 hours? This is very unwise of the Prime Minister,” Rafique told MalaysiaNow.

Najib’s apology and Anwar’s comments have sparked a flood of reactions on social media, especially from PH supporters.

“If his apology is accepted and forgiven, we can accept and forgive every convict in the country and release all prisoners,” wrote Alfred Adaikalaraj.

“It is nothing more than another brazen attempt to fool Malaysians once again. Stripped of all his self-righteous excuses, he remains unrepentant!’ Ch’ng Kim Hock said.

“Your statement shows that you do not have the authority to run the country in such a way that you fall prey to the scam of an ordinary citizen and foreign companies. I hope you will not make another comeback as Prime Minister,” Muhammad Hazim said.

The DAP leader’s sarcasm

Former DAP MP Tony Pua, who along with PKR Vice President Rafizi Ramli were among the most outspoken PH leaders to speak out against Najib during the height of the 1MDB scandal, wrote a post full of sarcasm about the fact that the former Prime Minister insisted he was innocent despite his apology.

“I am not responsible for firing my deputy prime minister to cover up 1MDB,” Pua said, referring to the dismissal of Muhyiddin Yassin, who had sought an explanation from Najib shortly after the scandal came to light.

“I am not responsible for firing the attorney general to cover up 1MDB. I am not responsible for firing the head of the MACC and the head of the Special Branch to cover up 1MDB. I am not responsible for installing a stooge as PAC chairman to cover up 1MDB.

“I am not responsible for the $27 million 22 carat pink diamond my beautiful wife bought (and many more millions in jewelry and luxury goods). (Where is it hidden anyway?),” Pua wrote on Facebook, referring to the jewelry which Najib claimed was a gift from a UAE prince to his wife Rosmah Mansor.

Pua continued:

“I am not responsible for issuing a secret government guarantee letter of RM3 billion to raise bonds for 1MDB. I am not responsible for paying extortion fees to Goldman Sachs to raise bonds for 1MDB.

“I am not responsible for negotiating crooked, overpriced deals with Chinese companies to cover up 1MDB debt.

“I am not responsible for pursuing and prosecuting 1MDB whistleblowers to cover up 1MDB,” he said, referring to attempts to thwart the 1MDB investigation.

“I have already paid my political price. It is not fair for me to be legally responsible for the above. I just have to say that I regret being the dumbest and slowest Prime Minister of Malaysia because I trusted the wrong parties who cheated Malaysians. of tens of billions of ringgit.

“I should not be in jail even though I have benefited immensely from 1MDB’s generosity, in cash and in kind. It’s not my fault. Really and truly.’

Meanwhile, a portal run by British journalist Claire Rewcastle Brown, who also actively covered the 1MDB revelations, criticized Anwar’s comments.

“That is not an apology, it is merely a denial. Anwar should not have accepted it for that reason, nor should the courts, which are supposed to be independent, accept it,” the report said.