Perak Umno starts royal pardon petition for Najib

IPOH – Perak Umno will start collecting signatures for the petition to be submitted to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong seeking a royal pardon for former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Its chairman Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad said the state Umno Liaison Committtee has been asked to issue a circular so that a mass signature collection could be organised among members.

“In Perak, we will start now, coincidentally Umno is having branch meetings so the signatures could be collected during the meetings,” he said.

He said this during a press conference in conjunction with Program Mesra Bersama Peneroka Felda at Laman Seri Ridzuan here on Sunday.

The Perak Menteri Besar said the royal pardon petition for Najib as suggested by Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was not something unusual.

He said in the current situation, the party’s supporters who sympathised Najib’s situation will intend to seek for the King to grant a royal pardon.

“So of course, the palace authorities will want to see how many are appealing for the pardon.

“Umno has three million members nationwide and in Perak, there are about 300,000 members. If everyone signed the same petition, it would be great,” he said.

On Saturday, Zahid asked for Umno members to support the royal pardon petition for Najib who was found guilty for misappropriating RM42 million funds belonging to SRC International Sdn Bhd.

Najib was sentenced to 12 years jail and fined RM210 million.

In the same development, Saarani slammed the statement made by Pejuang chiarman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad that the people will be disappointed if Najib was released from his sentence.

He said the Langkawi MP should realise the fact that he was responsible for the granting of a royal pardon for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim which disappointed the people.

“You think the people were not disappointed (back then)? The people were disappointed but at that time, he (Mahathir) was the prime minister. The situation now is similar,” he said.

On May 16, 2018 Anwar was granted a full pardon without conditions by then Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V.