Anyone who has enjoyed living in a healthy democracy, governed by the rule of law, will appreciate the benefits for the rights, freedoms and security of the community as a whole.

Equally, they will understand that for the system to work no one person or group of people should consider themselves above the laws that govern everybody else nor entitled to grab huge shares of the national wealth to the detriment of the health, well-being and education of others – and ultimately their disempowerment.

Malaysia as a nation has proven that this is the path it plans to follow, as the firm but sober verdict passed against its former rogue prime minister was greeted this week with an overall nod of national acceptance.

It was not easy to bring such a powerful, wealthy and politically connected figure to book, whilst following all the due processes of the law. In this case it took a full seven years against a well-funded legal pushback, special pleading and behind the scenes manoeuvrings.

It also took a learned and objective judge with the courage and the freedom to examine the evidence to bring justice in this case. Crucial as well was the testimony of 50 brave prosecution witnesses: ordinary people who were caught up in the decision by the country’s most powerful man to steal billions of ringgit to strengthen his personal authority and fuel a lavish lifestyle at the expense of those who had trusted him to govern in the public interest.

The judge concluded the evidence was overwhelming and found Najib Razak guilty on all 25 charges brought against him on grounds of criminal abuse of power and money laundering, relating to 1MDB alone and the $4.5 billion of public money stolen from the bogus development fund.

Extraordinary fine that speaks volumes

However, it was as much the extraordinary fine as the 15 years sentence in total that tells the real story about the dangers presented by this now finally fallen politician.

Judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah ordered that Najib must pay back an eye-watering RM11.38 billion ($2.8bn) of the stolen monies or else expect to serve a further 10 years in jail beyond that 15 years.  Meanwhile, another court has ruled null and void the attempted claim that a half-baked  ‘royal pardon’ might allow Najib to serve his sentence from the comfort of his own various homes.

This is a crucial demand, given so much of the fear stirred by this world-beating kleptocrat – and his remaining power – has come from his perceived ongoing command over much of the huge wealth he stole and appears to continue to have access to whilst held in jail.

This is money obtained not only from the 1MDB thefts, but from defence and other contracts:  a French court has determined that Najib was the beneficiary of no less than €114 million from the Scorpene submarine kickbacks alone.

Then, there were the side-dealings organised by his wife, Rosmah Mansor, who relentlessly sought further kickbacks for slews of contracts signed off by her husband, quite apart from her own direct involvements in 1MDB.

The couple’s fixer, the fugitive Jho Low, whom Judge Sequerah determined was indeed Najib’s proxy carrying out his orders, is on record confirming that Rosmah acquired a stash of diamonds worth half a billion dollars as her nest egg to fall back on.

Rosmah was let off tax evasion charges just earlier this month and has stretched out an appeal over other crimes of public theft, for which she was convicted, for several years.  So, now the court has emblematically left this couple with a choice: to find and return the money from whence it is hidden, or else, prepare for Najib to spend the rest of his days in jail.

This is the right choice for the nation.  No one should take pleasure from the fall of a public figure, however the country needs protection from a clear and present danger in a couple who combined political power with the ability to buy the destruction of all that stood in their way.

Malaysians can well remember the fear inflicted by the pair as they sought to defend their interests, wielding deep pockets and tentacles that resulted in the dismissals, disappearances, deaths and incarcerations of those who stood in their way, seemingly enjoying impunity over the hand they played in such events.

As the going got tough with the exposure of 1MDB, armed rallies were conjured up to intimidate those who called for the rule of law, freedom of speech and reform, whilst key potential witnesses mysteriously met their ends.  The original whistleblower, Xavier Justo, was arrested and thrown into a Bangkok jail thanks to the diplomatic ties that Najib was so well placed to abuse with false allegations by his co-conspirators.

Even in the UK, the editor of this website which published so many of the facts that brought Najib down, was subject to expensively funded harassment – surveillance teams in London, black PR campaigns, hackers and a dozen legal firms were commissioned to cause maximum harm. It was all small beer to a man who had stolen billions, and it was designed to silence the truth and subdue a nation.

Such malign wealth and power, criminally acquired, is the biggest threat to democracy and the rule of law and to the well-being of a nation state.  Strong institutions and tough and independent judges, alongside brave individuals backed by a community that cherishes its freedoms, are what are needed to stand up to them.

In this, Malaysia has succeeded with this sentencing.

It came very close, as Najib and his cronies proved willing to even surrender the independence of their nation into the grasp of its neighbouring super-power, in return for a bargain to bail him out of his crimes and keep quiet about it.

In November 2016 the rogue ex-prime minister signed a deal to obtain a cheap multi-billion ringgit loan, supposedly to fund Belt & Road infrastructure projects.  In fact, those projects had been deliberately inflated by 100%, through an agreement between both parties, to enable Chinese state construction companies to funnel back half the cash through Chinese state banks and intermediaries, so that Najib could pay the debts owed by 1MDB on all the billions of dollars that he was pretending had not been stolen.

With China as the custodian of his dirty secrets Najib could never have made another independent decision for the benefit of his country.  So, little surprise that at the same time as the bail-out deal a new strategic defence policy was agreed that favoured China. Likewise, a swathe of further projects were inked to integrate Malaysia’s economy into the wider Chinese economic orbit.

Thanks to remaining free information sources (including Sarawak Report via online media), Malaysians saw through the subterfuge.  All that stolen money failed to rescue Najib from electoral defeat. Meanwhile, the country owes a great deal to those who stood up to their misguided leader and to those brave law enforcers who brought him to face justice.

Like every other democratic nation, Malaysia remains challenged by such corrupted politicians and over-wealthy, over-powerful figures willing to put themselves before their country’s interests. However, in this extreme and important case the public interest has been done and is seen to have been done. The message that no one is above the law has been sent.

It leaves the country safer and with more prosperous prospects as it looks forward to 2026.

Be ever vigilant.