PRIME Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob may face pressure from a section of Umno to call an early general election after Najib Razak was jailed for graft, analysts said.

They said although Ismail may not bow to the pressure, the Bera MP may come under pressure from the party’s faction aligned to the Pekan lawmaker.

Observers also felt that Ismail would be able to strengthen his position as the prime minister while consolidating his position in Umno where he currently sits as a vice-president.

Yesterday, Najib was sent to Kajang prison after the Federal Court quashed his appeal and upheld his sentence in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case.

The apex court ordered the former prime minister to begin his 12-year jail sentence immediately.

In addition to this, Najib will have to pay a RM210 million fine, in default of which he will have to serve another five years in jail.

James Chin of Tasmania University told The Malaysian Insight that Ismail may not have to watch over his shoulder anymore as he would be the leading candidate for Umno as prime minister.

He said Umno can also use Najib’s sentencing as a point to prove that it never meddled with court cases.

“The biggest winner is of course Ismail. He does not have to worry anymore because he is the leading candidate for PM,” he said.

“I see only positive results for Umno and they can take full credit on the case by claiming they do not interfere.”

On July 28, 2020, then High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, who has since been elevated to the Court of Appeal, sentenced Najib to 10 years in prison on each of the three counts of criminal breach of trust and each of the three counts of money-laundering, and 12 years in prison and fined him RM210 million, in default of which he will have to serve five years in jail, in the case of abuse of power.

Last year, the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court’s decision and dismissed Najib’s appeal to set aside his conviction and sentence.

Mazlan Ali of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, however, stressed that Ismail may have to be careful with his move as there would be ploys to oust him from power.

The senior academic said Ismail would not call for early polls as Umno is now facing several issues, including the littoral combat ship scandal, which has affected its party president, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who has denied involvement with the project but records show he had approved a change in the ship design.

“He has to be careful. He has to plan his move delicately but with conviction. He can use it to back his government, to show that they are now clean and trying to be clean,” said Mazlan.

“If he calls for a general election, there are too many issues in Umno. He would think twice as the sentiment is not with Umno right now. The opposition can use them to attack Umno’s integrity.”

Calls for early polls have been made numerous times with the latest coming from Zahid.

The Umno president said the time was right for Ismail’s government to dissolve parliament and go for the ballot.

This is not the first time Zahid, who is also facing multiple corruption charges, has called for polls.

In March, he said Ismail could no longer trust the memorandum of understanding signed between the government and the opposition.

In a swift reply, Ismail said he needed to assess the situation before agreeing to the demand.

Ismail was also not present during the recent Umno emergency meeting at its headquarters where division heads were summoned by Zahid.

It was believed that the meeting had discussed the possibility to pressure Ismail to call snap polls.

Ilham Centre executive director Hisommudin Bakar agreed that there would be an internal rift between the Putrajaya cluster and the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur (WTCKL) cluster in Umno.

The Putrajaya cluster is referred to Umno ministers and the WTCKL cluster, Umno leaders who are not part of the government.

However, Hisommudin said, he could not predict if Ismail would bow to pressure or go against his party.

“There will be a struggle for sure. They will make sure Ismail bow to their demands and with Najib in prison, Umno has lost an icon. Najib was the reason Umno managed to stay relevant today,” he said.

“So with their icon gone, they will want something. Whether or not Ismail will follow party orders will depend on him. I cannot say for sure that he will not.”

He also said indirectly, Najib’s imprisonment would strengthen Ismail’s position to become Umno’s number one leader.

He said Ismail may need at least a year to build his base in the party.

Najib’s appeal at the apex court was chaired by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat. The other bench members were Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim and senior judges Nallini Pathmanathan, Mary Lim Thiam Suan and Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah.

Tengku Maimun, in her broad grounds, said having pored through the evidence, the submissions and the rest of the records of appeal, it was found that Najib’s complaints as contained in the petition of appeal were devoid of any merit.

“On the totality of the evidence, we find the conviction of the appellant on all seven charges safe. We also find that the sentence imposed is not manifestly excessive,” she said.

“These appeals are, therefore, unanimously dismissed and the conviction and sentence are affirmed.” – August 24, 2022.