Abstract
In July 2015 the Wall Street Journal revealed that nearly $700 million dollars from the Malaysian government-owned development company 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) had been deposited into Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s personal bank account. Subsequent revelations pointed to $4.5 billion in questionable allocations, as part of one of the worst money-laundering scandals in history, in a company with nearly $11 billion in debt that was founded on a Malaysian government guarantee. Over two years later, Najib remains in office, having appeared to weather the allegations of corruption and kleptocracy. Within Malaysia he has been cleared of any wrong-doing, and while internationally 1MDB legal proceedings remain on-going, Najib remains in power. In fact, his coalition, Barisan Nasional (BN, National Front), seems poised to win re-election in 2018, returning his party, United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), to power. While Brazil and South Korea have seen their leaders jailed for corruption, in Malaysia the leader survives, and arguably has emerged in greater control of the levers of executive power than before the scandal. Najib has shown himself to be of the political resilience mould long honed by his political party — at least so far…