Mahathir Mohamad is Malaysia’s Prime Minister again & is the Oldest Elected Leader in the World

By admin On Jul 31, 2018

Mahathir Mohamad, who ruled Malaysia with an iron fist from 1981 to 2003 and now, with a second innings at the age of 92, the oldest elected leader in the world, was sworn in as Prime Minister at about 9:50 p.m. on Thursday May 9, 2018 by Malaysia’s constitutional ruler, King Muhammad V, following a momentous vote in which scandal-plagued incumbent Najib Razak was soundly beaten at the polls by his former mentor. His opposition won a simple majority in the Malaysian Parliament with 112 seats to the ruling party’s 76 seats, the first change of government in 61 years since independence from the British in 1957.

Dr Mahathir Mohamad was one of the first members of the United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) which was formed to seek independence from Britain.
He stood for parliament in 1964, lost his seat five years later, and was expelled from the UMNO after criticising Malaysia’s first Prime Minister, Abdul Rahman, following Malay-Chinese race riots.
He re-joined the party in the early 1970s and became leader in 1981.
Mahathir ruled Malaysia for 22 years which made him the country’s longest-serving Prime Minister.
He was credited with modernising Malaysia during his time as leader and the economy boomed during the 1990s.
Kuala Lumpur’s ‘Petronas Twin Towers’ development was inspired by his vision to be a global player.
Mahathir was also known for his heavy-handed approach, which saw opponents imprisoned and courts subjugated.
Most famously, he fell out with his deputy prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, during the Asian financial crisis in 1997 and sacked him in 1998.
Anwar then led mass political reform protests and was arrested under Malaysia’s controversial Internal Security Act and jailed for sodomy and corruption.
Mahathir emerged from political retirement in 2016, buried the hatched with Anwar Ibrahim, and reunited in a court room.
Together their alliance exploited public disenchantment over the cost of living and a multi-billion-dollar scandal that had dogged Najib since 2015.
Mahathir said that one of his first actions would be to seek a royal pardon for Anwar.
Before the poll he had promised to step aside once Anwar was free and let him become prime minister within two years
His alliance of four parties trounced the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition of now former Prime Minister Najib Razak, who was once Mahathir’s protege but became his most bitter rival.
Anwar’s wife, Wan Azizah, endorsed Mahathir and served as his deputy in the coalition to oust Najib. She was one of the opposition candidates elected.
Mahathir repeated a promise to repeal a goods and services tax (GST) introduced by Najib and review foreign investments, including major infrastructure projects that are part of China’s Belt and Road initiative.
However, Global ratings agency Moody’s said some of his campaign promises, including scrapping GST and a reintroduction of fuel subsidies, could be credit-negative for Malaysia’s sovereign debt rating.

At a press conference after being sworn in, Mahathir reassured the financial community and said he would prioritise stabilising the economy and returning billions of dollars lost in a corruption scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), “We believe that we can get most of the 1MDB money back … we have to increase the confidence of investors in the administration”.