Fifteen years after he retired, Malaysia\u2019s longest-serving prime minister is\u00a0back in his old job, vowing to reform the country he says was unraveled by the former ruling party he led for two decades.<\/p>\n
At his first press conference as prime minister again on Thursday, Mahathir named revamping the economy and sorting out the country\u2019s finances as his top priorities. He also pledged to fight corruption, as well as review politically motivated charges against dissidents and members of the opposition.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are particularly keen to ensure that the constitution is upheld and that the laws of this country are what will guide us through our administration,\u201d he told reporters shortly before midnight local time.<\/p>\n
Mahathir was sworn in late on Thursday night as the country\u2019s seventh prime minister. Known as the father of Malaysia\u2019s modernization, as well as an autocrat who kept a tight hold over power, the 92-year-old previously governed the country from 1981-2003, overseeing a period of rapid industrialization and infrastructure building.<\/p>\n
After voters\u00a0delivered an unprecedented\u00a0rebuke of the incumbent Barisan National coalition at the polls, Mahathir, who defected to unite a fractured opposition, is now presiding over the country\u2019s first transition of power since independence in 1957.<\/p>\n
Delays to the swearing-in ceremony, which must be officiated by the king, prompted concern throughout the day that the unseated premier Najib Razak was making a last-ditch attempt to hold on to the government.<\/p>\n
During his concession speech on Thursday, a scandal-dogged Najib vowed to respect the will of the people, but cast doubts over Mahathir\u2019s ability to be appointed prime minister. Since no one party had achieved a simple majority \u2014 Pakatan Harapan is a four bloc coalition \u2014 he claimed it was up to the king, Sultan Muhammad V, to make a decision over who would be best for the people.<\/p>\n
Mahathir had called for the king to respect the rule of law and sign-off on the transition by 5 p.m. Despite appearing at the palace in ceremonial dress at the appointed time, Mahathir, trailed by a retinue of anxious supporters, had to wait several hours before the rubber-stamping event.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis took slightly more time than expected, about six hours more. But all time must come to an end and here we are: I was formally sworn in as prime minister,\u201d Mahathir said at his Thursday night press conference.<\/p>\n
He invited reporters to ask questions in an orderly fashion. \u201cDon\u2019t forget, I am the dictator,\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n
On his immediate to-do list, Mahathir named \u201cthe economy and the finances of this country\u201d as his priority, suggesting that the accounts are at present in a \u201chorrid state.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo saw we owe 1 trillion ringgit (about $253 billion) is not an exaggeration,\u201d he said, adding that he hopes to recover much of the $4.5 billion\u00a0allegedly stolen\u00a0from a state investment fund known as 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe we can get most of the 1MDB money back because we know that the money is in America, in Singapore, in Switzerland and probably in Jho Low,\u201d he said, referring to a Malaysian financier linked to the graft-tainted fund.<\/p>\n
Najib denied any wrongdoing, but\u00a0investigators\u00a0say $1 billion from the fund ended up in his personal bank accounts. He could face criminal proceedings under the new administration, which says it will set up in an inquest into the missing money.<\/p>\n
Mahathir also pledged to stop \u201cadjusting petrol prices every few seconds,\u201d and to work on rebuilding investor confidence through ending corruption and resurrecting rule of law.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also intend to abolish laws which are oppressive and unfair,\u201d he said, specifically naming the Fake News law\u00a0recently passed\u00a0by parliament and widely seen as a vehicle to quash reports critical of the government.<\/p>\n
During his previously 22 years in power, Mahathir inspired the opposition political movement he now spearheads after he was accused of weakening the judiciary, jailing critics and shuttering newspapers.<\/p>\n
Observers have not missed the irony baked into Mahathir\u2019s political encore.<\/p>\n
\u201cMahathir, who dismantled many of the institutions of democracy in Malaysia, turns out to be the savior of democracy,\u201d Bridget Welsh, associate professor of Political Science at John Cabot University, tells TIME.<\/p>\n
Mahathir has defended his record, claiming the system predates him and that he has apologized for mistakes made a generation ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have work to do for the future of our country we should not be harping on our past,\u201d the country\u2019s new nonagenarian leader said on Thursday night.<\/p>\n
By\u00a0Laignee Barron, TIME<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fifteen years after he retired, Malaysia\u2019s longest-serving prime minister is\u00a0back in his old job, vowing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[39,7,451],"class_list":["post-349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-ge14","tag-mahathir","tag-najib-razak"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":"","newsium-slider-full":"","newsium-featured":"","newsium-medium":""},"author_info":{"info":["Editor"]},"category_info":"Politics<\/a>","tag_info":"Politics","comment_count":"1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=349"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":350,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349\/revisions\/350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}