LETTER | I'd settle for a cat to be PM rather than see Najib's return

LETTER | I nearly choked on my lunch today when I read the news that an NGO has submitted a memorandum asking the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong to pardon Najib Abdul Razak and appoint him as interim prime minister.

Seriously? Do we want a PM who has been sentenced to 12 years in prison and a fine of RM210 million, not to mention still facing a litany of criminal charges? Are we so bereft of prime ministerial candidates that we have to shamelessly elevate a convict to become the most powerful man in the country?

The current administration may not be perfect. But to even entertain the notion of Najib's return is to scrape the bottom of the barrel. Even if we were to rule out Perikatan Nasional leaders as successor to the prime minister, surely we can think of other leaders than him?

Lest we get carried away by the Bossku's rapid-fire daily social media posts, a former "Malaysian Official 1" is the man who led a nation the US labelled as kleptocratic for being party to one of the most brazen heists of public funds in recent times.

The shenanigans sparked investigations by over a dozen countries with the money trail littered with his fingerprints and that of his fugitive co-conspirator, Jho Low. This is the same man whose conviction was described as "the worst case of abuse of position," by the judge who presided over and meted out the sentence against Najib.

Do we still want to become a global laughing stock for bringing back a convicted PM? Have we not been shamed enough by the international media's reports on how brazen the grand larceny was carried out right under our noses during his administration?

Imagine what he will do upon his return. Remember how ex-AG Abdul Gani Patail was unceremoniously removed just as efforts were underway to charge Najib between July and August 2015 for corruption and abuse of power?

 Not only was Najib spared from prosecution, but his enemies became victims of a witch-hunt.

Who can forget the sight of boxes and boxes of designer handbags seized by enforcement officers from posh condominiums? Or the list of assets like luxury yachts, Monet paintings and prime addresses in New York bought using money from 1MDB?

Can we trust this man again with our public funds which have been running short due to the Covid-19 pandemic? We certainly will not fall for tall tales about how his family's fortunes were amassed from menabung sejak kecil (savings since young). 

Or that Najib's family wealth was from his father's inheritance.

So please .... we can have anyone as prime minister but not him. I'd rather settle for a cat to be the PM than to see Najib's return.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.