Do we like them?

Do we like Najib Razak?

Our score: 2 out of 10. Two court convictions over public funds and a civil liability order, plus demeaning words about LGBT people, with little verified good to set against them.

Najib was Malaysia's prime minister from 2009 to 2018, and the 1MDB state fund scandal is what brought him down. He has spent years insisting he is the victim of political persecution and of Jho Low, the fugitive financier. The courts have not bought it.

In 2020 the High Court convicted him on seven charges over about RM42 million diverted from SRC International, a 1MDB unit, and sentenced him to 12 years. He said he was dissatisfied and would keep working to clear his name. In court he denied knowing about the payments into his accounts.

Then came the big one. On 26 December 2025 Justice Collin Sequerah convicted him on four counts of abuse of power and 21 of money laundering over 1MDB funds. The judge rejected the claim that the case was a “witch hunt” and found the Saudi donation story was not credible. Najib's defence had argued he was misled by Jho Low, and he is appealing.

The sentence is 15 years and a RM11.38 billion fine, to start after the SRC term ends. In March 2026 a civil judgment also found him liable for US$1.3 billion in SRC losses, with the judge finding he breached fiduciary duties. His lawyer said he will appeal that too.

On the harm check, the record I could verify is thin but not clean. Human Rights Watch reported that in two 2012 speeches he described the LGBT community as a “deviant culture” and indicated it had no place in the Malaysia he led. I didn't find climate, migrant or trans-specific campaigning in what I read. That makes it a close call, not a clean pass.

The recent saga is all about clemency. In 2024 the pardons board halved his SRC term to six years, and in September 2026 it allowed house arrest until 23 August 2028, on condition he pays RM50 million. His lawyers say frozen assets complicate that, and he thanked the King “with the utmost humility”.