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Najib Razak

October

Anwar Ibrahim: “I’m the prime minister, the father of the nation. When someone says that, what can I do?”

Malaysia PM says he welcomes Najib’s 1MDB apology

Anwar Ibrahim said while his stance on 1MDB was well known, it was not fair to single out one person for the goings-on in the sovereign wealth fund.

  • Anisah Shukry

August

Patrick Mahony (left) and Tarek Obaid.

‘Obscenely greedy’ oil execs jailed over vast 1MDB fraud

A Swiss court found the former PetroSaudi executives responsible for embezzling $2.6 billion in what the court heard was the “fraud of the century”.

  • Jamey Keaten

November 2022

Mahathir Mohamad at his desk in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday November 18, 2022

At 97, Mahathir ready to serve as PM again

In a wide-ranging interview, the last of Asia’s strongmen says China may be goaded into invading Taiwan, and Malaysia needs a government without “bad baggage”.

  • Emma Connors

September 2022

Rosmah Mansor, wife of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak, waves as she leaves the High Court in Kuala Lumpur, after being convicted of taking bribes.

Wife of Malaysian PM was power behind the throne, trial reveals

Rosmah Mansor, the wife of disgraced former Malaysian PM Najib Razak, has been found guilty of taking bribes, but she won’t be joining her husband behind bars just yet.

  • Updated
  • Emma Connors

August 2022

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, center, speaks to supporters outside at Court of Appeal in Putrajaya, Malaysia on Tuesday before his final appeal was dismissed.

Ex-PM Najib’s jailing a win for Malaysia’s judiciary

After 46 years in the public eye, Najib Razak is now out of sight behind bars, and it’s the country’s chief justice in the limelight.

  • Emma Connors
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Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, centre, wearing a face mask, arrives at the Court of Appeal in Putrajaya, Malaysia.

Malaysia’s ex-PM Najib faces jail after court rejects final appeal

Najib’s loss in his final appeal means he will have to begin serving his jail sentence immediately over the scandal of the 1MDB state fund.

  • Eileen Ng

December 2021

Najib Razak, centre, pictured at an earlier court appearance in April this year.

Malaysia court upholds former PM Najib’s guilty verdict

Mr Najib was appealing a 12-year prison sentence and $US50 million fine imposed by Kuala Lumpur High Court last year for criminal breach of trust, abuse of power and money laundering.

  • Rozanna Latiff and Mei Mei Chu

August 2021

A protester holds a placard during a demonstration demanding that Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin step down.

Malaysian PM defies calls to quit, wants confidence vote next month

Muhyiddin Yassin said King Al-Sultan Abdullah agreed that he should remain in power pending the confidence vote.

  • Liz Lee and Mei Mei Chu

March 2021

Muhyiddin Yassin pushed several times for a state of emergency to give him an excuse to suspend parliament.

Politics gets personal in Malaysia

Malaysia is starting to look more like the south-east Asian standard than it ever has: a modernising economy paradoxically beset by the politics of personalism, patronage and arbitrary rule.

  • Updated
  • Liam Gammon

August 2020

Najib’s personal corruption is in a different league, staining Malaysia’s international image and contributing to the historic win for the opposition Pakatan Harapan coalition.

No end to Malaysia’s political games after Najib’s courtroom downfall

The Malaysian public is stuck with games of three-dimensional chess between – and within – teams of politicians who are UMNO men who missed out on the power they sought through that party.

  • Liam Gammon

July 2020

Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak.

Will the conviction of a former PM change Malaysia?

He's facing 12 years in prison and fines of more than $65 million after being found guilty in a 1MDB corruption trial but his old party is still scheming its way back to power.

  • Emma Connors
Malaysia's former prime minister Najib Razak, centre, arrives at the Kuala Lumpur Courts Complex on Tuesday.

Judge's hard line on Najib's corruption will weigh on appeal

The findings of fact made by a Kuala Lumpur High Court judge are unlikely to be overturned on appeal.

  • Updated
  • Emma Connors
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, center, wearing a face mask with his supporters arrives at courthouse in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Tuesday, July 28, 2020. Najib arrived for a verdict in the first of several corruption trials linked to the multibillion-dollar looting of the 1MDB state investment fund.

Former Malaysian PM Najib Razak avoids jail for now

The High Court in Kuala Lumpur agreed to a stay of execution pending appeal after sentencing Najib to 12 years jail on charges.related to 1MDB corruption.

  • Updated
  • Emma Connors
Najib Razak, Malaysia's former prime minister, set up the 1MDB sovereign fund.

Malaysia faces crucial graft test in 1MDB verdict

Malaysia's former prime minister Najib Razak faces his first verdict on Tuesday in a landmark case that tests the country's efforts to stamp out corruption.

  • Rozanna Latiff

March 2020

Muhyiddin Yassin. If it survives a confidence vote in Malaysia’s parliament, a new government built on an alliance of Peninsular Malaysia-based ethnic Malay or Islam-based parties would be a backward step.

Real political reform in south-east Asia is still a dream

Nobody expects countries like Malaysia or Thailand — let alone even more politically blighted neighbours — to emerge as textbook liberal democracies any time soon.

  • Liam Gammon
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February 2020

Mahathir Mohamad waves after being granted an audience with the Malaysia's King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah at the National Palace in Kuala Lumpur.

Mahathir now interim PM - but not for long

The 94-year-old Prime Minister appears to be behind in the race to gain the support of enough MPs to form a majority government. 

  • Updated
  • Emma Connors
Mahathir Mohamad, right, and his supposed successor Anwar Ibrahim at the weekend.

Mahathir offers resignation in Malaysian political upheaval

The Prime Minister tendered his resignation to Malaysia's king on Monday, while his political party quit the ruling alliance in a shocking political upheaval less than two years after his election victory.

  • Eileen Ng
Najib Razak with supporters at the Kuala Lumpur Courts Complex last month.

Malaysia's unlikeliest of political comebacks

Najib Razak stands accused of plundering hundreds of millions of dollars, but his political life is far from over and he may still emerge as kingmaker.

  • Emma Connors
Rosmah Mansor walking slowly into Kuala Lumpur's High Court on Wednesday.

Malaysia's handbag queen faces trial for corruption

The wife of Malaysia's former PM is charged with soliciting and accepting a bribe from a company that wanted a government contract to supply solar energy to rural schools.

  • Emma Connors
Najib Razak, Malaysia's former prime minister, center, walks with his supporters as he leaves a courtroom at the Kuala Lumpur Courts Complex in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Monday, Jan. 6, 2020.

Najib Razak: 'I would have been a smarter thief'

The former prime minister has told Malaysia's High Court that 1MDB-related theft claims are ludicrous.

  • Emma Connors

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/person/najib-razak-4j0