THE STAR – All UMNO members should sign the petition for a royal pardon for Datuk Seri Najib Razak, said Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad.
The Perak UMNO chairman said the palace would want to see how many people were requesting for the former party president to be pardoned for his sentence.
“The party president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had instructed all of us to support the petition for a royal petition. UMNO has over three million members nationwide, wouldn’t it be great if all of us united and supported it,” said Saarani.
“Perak UMNO has about 300,000 members and we are currently in the midst of our division meetings, so all signatures could be collected then,” he added.
Saarani said this when speaking to reporters after attending the Ramah Mesra programme with Felda settlers at Laman Seri Ridzuan yesterday.
During UMNO’s special briefing on Saturday, Ahmad Zahid said the party would mobilise its members to throw their full support behind the petition for a royal pardon for Najib.
Najib is currently serving a 12-year-jail sentence for misappropriating MYR42 million involving SRC International Sdn Bhd funds.
Saarani also responded to a statement by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on the petition for a royal pardon for Najib.
“When Mahathir was the prime minister, he was the one who sought for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s royal pardon,” said the Perak UMNO chairman. “There were people who were disappointed that he was released, so what is the difference now?”
On Saturday, Mahathir said that the public would be upset if Najib was released from his sentence.
In 2018, Mahathir had announced that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong at the time – Sultan Muhammad V – had consented to grant Anwar a full, immediate pardon.
Anwar had been sentenced to a five-year jail term in March 2014 after his January 2012 Court of Appeal acquittal for a 2008 sodomy charge was overturned by the Federal Court.
