LIPIS: Umno remains firm in its stand that former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak should be allowed to serve his remaining sentence under house arrest, said party president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today.
The deputy prime minister said he was not trying to challenge the legal process or the decision by the Pardons Board, but felt that Najib should be given more space.
"As a friend, I will always remember Najib's kindness and will never leave him alone.
"Najib has to be given justice. We respect the legal process, but Najib was not given full justice as he was denied a retrial due to legal principles.
"The Umno supreme council and the Umno general assembly stand together that Najib has to be given justice based on legal procedures.
"Umno leaders and members respect the legal institution, but feel that the due process of law has to be fairly given to Najib.
"Najib should be considered for house arrest as there are laws that allow one to be granted home detention."
He said this in his speech when opening the Lipis Umno delegates' meeting here. Present was Lipis Umno chief Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Mohamad.
Najib was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in jail and fined RM210 million for misappropriating RM42 million of SRC International funds.
In February, the Pardons Board reduced his fine and halved his jail term to six years.
Meanwhile, Zahid, who served as Najib's political secretary in 1987, when Najib was youth and sports minister, described Najib as his "boss" for a lifetime, drawing cheers from the crowd.
In February, the Umno leadership said it was determined to pursue freeing Najib from behind bars.
Last month, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the house arrest order for Najib should be contemplated only by His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia, once the 1Malaysia Development Bhd case had concluded.
Anwar said he would propose a measure only if the king sought his opinion.
Meanwhile, Zahid said Umno divisions' delegate meetings nationwide would not have happened if he had agreed to listen in 2018 to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the then prime minister, who had pressured him to dissolve Umno.
"Just imagine if I had agreed to disband Umno then.
"I am sure Lipis Umno would not be having its delegates meeting today.
"I refused to do so as Umno has been trusted for a long time to champion Malays without sidelining other races.
"Umno's grassroots have always been loyal to the party as none of the 21,000 branches nationwide were disbanded when the party was not in power (in 2018)."
On a separate matter, he said Pahang Umno should be prepared to face the 16th General Election (GE16) and not take the challenge posed by Perikatan Nasional (PN) lightly.
"PN has 17 state seats (out of 42) in Pahang and it will try to capture the state in the next general election.
"PN already governs four states (Terengganu, Kelantan, Perlis and Kedah) and wants to rule other states, so Pahang has to be prepared for GE16."
Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan form the unity government in Pahang.