More than RM1 million was raised in less than a day to help Najib Razak pay the RM50 million fine attached to the conditional pardon that allows him to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest.
The money is coming from his supporters.
And UMNO is helping collect it.
Within hours of launching the Najib Razak Solidarity Fund, UMNO said it had received RM165,645. That figure rose to more than RM634,000 within three hours before crossing RM1 million the following morning, with some supporters contributing as little as RM10 or RM50.
Najib has said supporters should not feel obliged to contribute, while his lawyers stressed that the donations are voluntary.
But the question is not whether Najib's supporters are allowed to help him.
They are.
The question is what they are being asked to help pay for and who they are being asked to help.
A fine tied to a conviction
The RM50 million is not simply a fundraising target. It is the fine imposed on Najib in the SRC International case, reduced from RM210 million in 2024, and its payment is a condition of his latest pardon allowing house arrest.
Najib was convicted in 2020 on seven charges involving RM42 million from SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1MDB. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined RM210 million.
In 2024, the Pardons Board reduced his prison sentence to six years and his fine to RM50 million.
On Sept 18, 2026, a new conditional pardon allowed him to serve the remainder of that sentence under house arrest, subject to the RM50 million payment and other conditions.
As of Sept 21, Najib remains in Kajang Prison because the fine has not been paid.
And that is where UMNO's fundraising drive comes in.
The party that Najib once led is now asking its members, supporters and the public to help raise the money needed to satisfy the condition.
But this is not the only Najib conviction
The RM42 million SRC case is only one part of the story.
In December 2025, the High Court found Najib guilty on all 25 charges in a separate 1MDB case involving RM2.3 billion.
He was convicted of four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined RM11.4 billion. He is appealing that conviction.
So the same man whose supporters are now raising RM50 million to satisfy a condition of his pardon has also been convicted in a separate case involving billions of ringgit in 1MDB funds.
That distinction matters.
The RM50 million fine relates to the SRC conviction.
The RM11.4 billion fine relates to the separate 1MDB conviction.
And the latter remains under appeal.
Then there is the spending
The 1MDB scandal was not only about money moving through bank accounts.
It also became synonymous with the extraordinary spending associated with people in Najib's inner circle.
Rosmah Mansor, Najib's wife, is currently facing a civil suit brought by 1MDB and 10 other companies over more than US$346 million, or about RM1.41 billion, in luxury goods allegedly acquired using misappropriated 1MDB and SRC funds.
The goods include jewellery, handbags and watches said to have been purchased from dozens of vendors across multiple countries. The allegations remain before the courts, with the trial scheduled for 2027.
Najib's stepson, Riza Aziz, was also sued by 1MDB over an alleged US$248 million in funds that the company said were misappropriated and used for purposes including film production and property purchases.
That suit was withdrawn in February 2025, and the High Court subsequently ordered 1MDB to pay RM225,000 in costs to Riza and his companies.
Those cases are legally different from Najib's convictions.
But they form part of the wider financial scandal surrounding 1MDB, the same scandal for which Najib himself has now been convicted in two separate cases.
Malaysia is still paying for 1MDB
And the financial consequences did not end with the convictions.
Malaysia is still dealing with billions of ringgit in 1MDB-related obligations and pursuing the recovery of funds and assets linked to the scandal.
That makes the current fundraising drive an especially striking juxtaposition.
On one side is a former prime minister convicted over the misuse of public-linked funds, with his family and inner circle having faced years of scrutiny over alleged luxury spending connected to 1MDB.
On the other is his former party, UMNO, mobilising its members and supporters to help him raise RM50 million.
More than RM1 million has already been raised.
The individual donations may be as small as RM10 or RM50.
But collectively, they are being channelled towards a RM50 million fine imposed on a former prime minister whose name remains at the centre of one of Malaysia's biggest financial scandals.
And UMNO is the organisation asking its members to contribute.
The money trail comes full circle
There is no question that Najib's supporters can choose to stand by him.
They have made that choice, and the fundraising figures show it.
But there is another side to the story.
For years, Malaysians have heard about billions of ringgit linked to 1MDB, the recovery of misappropriated funds, court cases involving Najib and the luxury spending allegations surrounding people close to him.
Now, UMNO members and supporters are being asked to put their own money into the same story. This time to help settle Najib's RM50 million fine.
The contrast is difficult to miss.
Billions were at the centre of the 1MDB scandal. RM42 million was at the centre of Najib's SRC conviction. RM50 million is now being raised to satisfy a condition of his pardon. And more than RM1 million has already come from his supporters.
For UMNO, this is about standing by Najib.
For the people donating, it is about supporting a former leader they continue to believe in.
But financially, the irony is hard to escape. The man at the centre of one of Malaysia's biggest financial scandals now has his political party helping raise money for his fine.