Skip to main content

Malaysia’s opposition alliance names 92-year old Mahathir as PM candidate

Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad smiles during an interview with Reuters in Putrajaya, Malaysia, March 30, 2017. REUTERS/Lai Seng Sin/File Photo
Malaysia’s opposition coalition on Sunday named 92-year old former premier Mahathir Mohamad as its prime ministerial candidate for a general election that must be called by August.
With the country’s most popular opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim in jail, Mahathir is seen as the biggest threat for Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is engulfed in a corruption scandal.
Mahathir, who earned a reputation during his 22-year tenure as prime minister of being a no-nonsense authoritarian with little time for dissenters promoting liberal values, stands to become the world’s oldest leader if the opposition wins.
A victory could also potentially pave the way for former Mahathir foe Anwar to become the prime minister.
Mahathir and Anwar’s wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail will be the Pakatan Harapan coalition’s candidates for the premier and deputy prime ministerial posts respectively, secretary general Saifuddin Abdullah said at the alliance’s convention.
If the opposition wins, the component parties have agreed to immediately commence the legal processes to obtain a royal pardon for Anwar, Saifuddin said.
“…So that Anwar could immediately play a role in the federal government and subsequently be proposed as a candidate for the eighth prime minister,” he said.
The Mahathir-Anwar coalition and their endorsement of each other is a turnaround from their bitter feud that has shaped Malaysia’s political landscape for nearly two decades.
Anwar was once a protege of Mahathir, and the rising star of Malaysian politics, but they had a falling-out in the late 1990s. Soon afterwards, Anwar was jailed on charges of sodomy and graft, after being sacked as the deputy prime minister. He denied the charges, dismissing them as politically motivated.
Anwar later led an opposition alliance to stunning electoral gains in 2013. Najib’s Barisan Nasional coalition lost the popular vote in that election, but managed to stay in power after winning a majority of the seats in parliament.
Anwar was again convicted in 2014 for sodomy, a charge he says was an attempt to end his career, and jailed a year later after failing to overturn the verdict.
The sodomy conviction disqualifies Anwar from political office and from contesting the next election. A royal pardon, however, would let him contest.
Opposition to Prime Minister Najib has brought Anwar and Mahathir back together, with their parties now working in the opposition coalition.
Najib has been embroiled in a corruption scandal involving state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). In civil lawsuits, the U.S. Justice Department has alleged that about $4.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB.
The fund has denied any wrongdoing and Najib, who founded 1MDB, has denied all allegations of corruption against him and was cleared of wrongdoing by Malaysia’s attorney-general.

 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Meryl Streep wants to trademark her own name

Meryl Streep has won three Oscars, three Emmys and six Golden Globes during her 40-year long career on stage, screen and television. (Photo by Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP, File) Meryl Streep, the most celebrated actress of her generation, has filed an application to trademark her name. The application was filed with US Patent and Trademark Office on January 22, records show. It requests that the name Meryl Streep be trademarked for “entertainment services,” movie appearances, speaking engagements and autographs. Streep, 68, last week extended her record to 21 Academy Award nominations, this time for her role in “The Post.” She has won three Oscars, three Emmys and six Golden Globes during her 40-year long career on stage, screen and television. It is not clear why Streep would file a trademark application at this stage in her career and her attorney and publicist did not return a request for comment on Monday. Many celebrities trademark their names or catch phrases to pro...
Post a Comment
Read more

Beijing’s struggle against pollution will be tough, take time: Mayor

Beijing’s battle against air pollution will take time and be very tough to win despite recent improvements, the acting mayor of China’s capital said on Wednesday. The city has been fighting to clean its notoriously smoggy air through steps such as pushing households and factories to switch away from coal to cleaner fuels like natural gas. “Further improvement in air quality (will be) extremely difficult,” acting mayor of Beijing, Chen Jining, said in a statement released during the city’s congress meeting. The central government’s intense focus on air quality means many local officials’ careers are linked to the success of efforts to tackle smog, making it unusual to speak candidly about the challenges of meeting tough targets. Beijing has chalked up a short-term success by cutting the annual average level of breathable particulate matter (PM 2.5) to 58 micrograms per cubic metre in 2017, beating a target set by the State Council in 2012. However, the city is still some way f...
Post a Comment
Read more

US slaps anti-dumping duty on polyester staple fiber from China, India

United States Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. (source: Wikimedia commons) The Trump Administration has slapped anti-dumping duties on stainless steel flangs and finer denier polyester staple fiber from China and India. Exporters from China and India received countervailing subsidies of 41.73 to 47.55 per cent and 9.50 to 25.28 percent, respectively, the US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross alleged Wednesday. As such he has instructed US Customs and Border Protection to collect cash deposits from importers of fine denier polyester staple fiber from China and India based on these final rates. “The US will no longer sit back and watch as its domestic businesses are destroyed by unfair foreign government subsidies. We will continue to take action on behalf of US industry to defend American businesses, workers, and communities adversely impacted by unfair imports,” Ross was quoted as saying by PTI. In 2016, imports of fine denier polyester staple fiber from China and India were ...
Post a Comment
Read more