The constitutional power to grant pardons should not be portrayed as placing any individual above the law, Umno information chief Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said said on 19 September.
She said the power of pardon was expressly provided for under Article 42 of the Federal Constitution and was therefore not a power exercised outside the law, Malay Mail reported.
“The principle of the rule of law is not in dispute. No individual, government or institution is above the law. However, the Federal Constitution is the supreme law of the country, and all parties are likewise bound by its provisions,” she said in a statement posted on her Facebook page.
Azalina, who also serves as Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform), was responding to a statement by the Pakatan Harapan Presidential Council following the conditional royal pardon granted to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
She drew a sharp distinction between judicial decisions and the pardoning process, noting that the courts are responsible for determining guilt and sentences while Article 42 provides a constitutional mechanism for pardons, reprieves and remissions of sentences, Bernama reported.
“The existence of the constitutional power of pardon does not mean that a court’s decision is disregarded, nor does it place any individual above the law,” she said.
Every institution, she added, must act within the powers conferred on it by the Federal Constitution. “The respective roles of the Pardons Board, the Attorney General and the relevant Minister must be understood in accordance with Article 42 and the prescribed constitutional process, rather than through political interpretation or perception.”
Azalina said questions concerning the validity, legal effect or process of any action should be assessed based on the Constitution, the facts and the actual process followed, rather than merely on political statements.
“Respect the decisions of the courts. Respect the Constitution. Respect the processes provided for by the Constitution. No one is above the law. And no one is above the Constitution,” she added.
Najib was convicted in 2020 over the misappropriation of RM42 million from SRC International, a former 1MDB subsidiary, and began serving his 12-year prison sentence in August 2022 after the Federal Court upheld his conviction. His original sentence was halved to six years and his RM210 million fine reduced to RM50 million following a review by the Federal Territories Pardons Board in 2024.
On 18 September, His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, the King of Malaysia, granted Najib a conditional pardon allowing him to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest until 23 August 2028, subject to payment of the RM50 million fine and compliance with conditions that have not been publicly disclosed.
