Malaysia will keep pursuing Jho Low even if Donald Trump grants him a pardon, with Anwar saying the decision rests with the United States. The move comes after US media reports said Low could be among 250 people Trump may consider pardoning as part of celebrations for America’s 250th Independence Day on Saturday.
Low has spent years trying to clear his position, and in May he sought clemency from US President Donald Trump. That request is now back in view because the pardon talk is tied to a public moment on the US calendar, not to any announcement about his own case.
Low is linked to 1MDB, and the stakes are clear: a US pardon could drop criminal charges against him in the United States. That would not end Malaysia’s interest in the matter, which is why Anwar’s line matters more than a simple diplomatic shrug. He did not promise to follow Washington’s lead. He made plain that Malaysia will not treat a pardon as the end of the road.
The friction is simple. Trump could decide to include Low in the group under consideration, but that would only change his exposure in the United States. Malaysia’s pursuit would continue on its own track, creating a split outcome that has become familiar in Trump-era pardon politics, much like the attention drawn by Biden’s pardon decisions and other high-profile clemency bids involving Trump and figures such as Sam Bankman-Fried and Stephen Buyer.
For Low, the unanswered question is not whether he has asked for clemency. He has. The real issue is whether Trump will use a Saturday celebration to grant it, and if he does, how much protection that actually buys outside the United States. Anwar has already answered the part that matters in Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia will keep going.
