Najib Razak

Mohammad Najib bin Abdul Razak (Jawi: محمد نجيب بن عبد الرزاق, Malay: [muhammad nadʒɪb]; born 23 July 1953) is a Malaysian politician who served as the sixth prime minister of Malaysia from 2009 to 2018. He is the son of former prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein. Najib served as the chairman of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition from April 2009 to May 2018 and as the president of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) from November 2008 to May 2018.

However, the coalition experienced an unprecedented defeat in the 2018 general election, attributed to corruption charges involving Najib and his family, which eroded public trust in the ruling party. The introduction of the Goods and Services Tax, widely regarded as unpopular, also significantly contributed to the decline in support. In 2020, he was convicted of corruption in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal, one of the largest money-laundering and embezzlement scandals in history.

Najib was elected to the Parliament of Malaysia in 1976, at the age of 23, replacing his deceased father in the Pahang-based seat of Pekan. In the same year, he was appointed the head of UMNO Youth's Pekan branch and became a member of the youth wing's Executive Council. In the early years of his political career, Najib took on a deputy minister role in 1976, and between 1982 and 1986, he was the Menteri Besar of Pahang. Thereafter, until 2009, he was rotated throughout the Cabinet of Malaysia, taking on various ministerial portfolios in defence, education, culture, youth and sports, and finally finance. Between 1993 and 2009, Najib was a vice-president of UMNO. During his tenure as deputy prime minister, he was accused of being involved in the 2006 Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case, but he denied any involvement in the case.

Najib's tenure as prime minister, between 2009 and 2018, was marked by economic liberalisation measures, such as cuts to government subsidies, which were unpopular among the public. After the 2013 election, his government pursued a number of its critics on sedition charges, the imprisonment of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim following a conviction for sodomy and the implementation of a Goods and Services Tax (GST). He was prime minister during the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disaster and a dispute with North Korea following the assassination of Kim Jong-nam.

In 2015, Najib became implicated in a major corruption scandal involving state investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) which led to rallies calling for his resignation, spearheaded by the grassroots movement Bersih. These protests culminated in the Malaysian Citizens' Declaration by Mahathir Mohamad, Pakatan Harapan and NGOs which sought to oust Najib.

Najib's response to the corruption accusations was to tighten his grip on power by replacing then-deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin, suspending two newspapers and pushing through parliament a controversial National Security Council Bill that provides the prime minister with unprecedented powers. Najib's various subsidy cuts have contributed to soaring living costs, while fluctuating oil prices and the fallout from the 1MDB scandal led to a depreciation of the Malaysian currency. These ended with BN's historic loss in the 2018 general elections; the coalition had ruled uninterrupted since Malayan independence in 1957. Najib then conceded defeat and promised to help facilitate a smooth transition of power.

On 3 July 2018, Najib was arrested by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), which investigated how RM42 million (US$10.6 million) went from SRC International, a company related to 1MDB, into Najib's bank account. In the process, the police seized a number of fashion accessories worth $273 million while searching through his properties. Najib was subsequently charged and convicted by the High Court on abuse of power, money laundering and criminal breach of trust, becoming the first Prime Minister of Malaysia to be convicted of corruption, and was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment and fined RM210 million. At the same time, Najib was also simultaneously directed to settle RM1.69 billion in tax arrears owed to the Inland Revenue Board (IRB). The sentence was upheld by the Federal Court on 23 August 2022. He is currently serving his sentence in Kajang Prison.

Early life and education

Najib was born on 23 July 1953 at the Pahang State Secretary official residence in Bukit Bius, Kuala Lipis, Pahang. Najib is the eldest of second Malaysian Prime Minister Abdul Razak's six sons. His younger brother, Dato' Seri Mohd Nazir Abdul Razak, runs the country's second-largest lender, Bumiputra-Commerce Holdings Bhd. Najib is also one of the Four Noblemen of the Pahang Darul Makmur (Royal Court) by virtue of his inherited title as the Orang Kaya Indera Shahbandar. He received his primary and secondary education at St. John's Institution, Kuala Lumpur. He later attended Malvern College in Worcestershire, England, and subsequently went to the University of Nottingham, where he received a bachelor's degree in industrial economics in 1974. Najib Razak returned to Malaysia in 1974 and entered the business world, serving briefly at Bank Negara Malaysia and later with Petronas (Malaysia's national oil company) as a public affairs manager.

Early political career

The eldest son of Malaysian Prime Minister, Abdul Razak Hussein, was elected to the Parliament of Malaysia in 1976 replacing his deceased father in the Pahang-based seat of Pekan. The national outpouring of grief following Tun Razak's death and the respect for his father helped Najib win election unopposed as Member of Parliament at the very young age of 23. In 1986 Najib won re-election to the same seat.

From 1982 to 1986 he was the Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) of Pahang, before holding various cabinet posts throughout the remainder of the 1980s and 1990s, including Defence and Education. In 2004, he became Deputy Prime Minister under Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and replaced him 2009. Under his leadership, Barisan Nasional won the 2013 elections, although for the first time in Malaysia's history the opposition won the majority of the popular vote.

Najib was first assigned into the Cabinet of Malaysia at the age of 25 when he was appointed Deputy Minister of Energy, Telecommunications and Post in 1978, becoming the youngest deputy minister in the country. He served as the Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) of Pahang between 1982 and 1986, becoming the youngest Menteri Besar in the state to enter office when he was sworn in at the age of 29. In 1986 he was appointed as Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports in the Cabinet of Mahathir Mohamad. He focused on improving Malaysian sports and introduced the National Sports Policy in 1988. In 1989 Malaysia achieved its best-ever performance at the South East Asia (SEA) Games, held in Kuala Lumpur.

Najib was appointed head of UMNO Youth's Pekan branch and became a member of UMNO Youth's Executive Council (Exco) in 1976. In 1981, he was selected as a member of UMNO's Supreme Council, before winning the post of Vice-President of UMNO Youth in 1982.

On 26 October 1987, the then leader of the opposition, Lim Kit Siang, called for the Anti-Corruption Agency to investigate how Najib, who was then Pahang MB, could give approval for a logging concession of 2000 acres to a resident of a low-cost housing estate. He asked ACA to investigate whether the logging concessionnaire was in fact a nominee for Najib himself.

In 1987, Najib was selected as the acting head of the Movement of UMNO Youth by Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim after Anwar was asked to contest the post of UMNO Vice-President. Following mounting ethnic tensions anti-Chinese sentiments were expressed at a UMNO Youth rally held in Kampung Baru, Kuala Lumpur the same year where Najib spoke. Rising tensions soon lead to fears of ethnic violence and eventually resulted in a security operation known as Operasi Lalang, that included numerous administrative detentions.

Following the complete reorganisation and founding of the "New" UMNO by Mahathir Mohamad in the aftermath of the 1988 Malaysian constitutional crisis, Najib was appointed president of UMNO Youth in 1988.

By 1993, Najib was elected as one of six vice-presidents of UMNO in response to Anwar's decision to contest as the deputy president of UMNO. Najib continued to defend his post in party elections held in 1993, 1996, and 2004.

Senior ministerial career

Minister for defence (1991–1995)

In 1991, Mahathir appointed Najib as Minister of Defence. Under Najib's direction, Malaysian troops were deployed to assist the UN peacekeeping forces in Bosnia in 1993 during the Bosnian War. Malaysian forces were greeted warmly by Bosnians as well as Serbs and Croats. Malaysia also assisted peacekeeping operations in Somalia in 1993, losing one soldier in an effort to aid US soldiers during the Battle of Mogadishu. Najib later criticised the UN's Somalia operation as putting too much emphasis on military action. Since then Malaysia has stated a preference for participating in Chapter 6 "peace enforcement" missions, rather than Chapter 7 "peacekeeping" missions. After four years at the Ministry of Defence, Najib assumed control of the Education Ministry in 1995. He returned to the Ministry of Defence in 2000.