“There has been some delays over a lack of understanding of the constitution, but we’d like to make it clear that there is an urgency here: We need to form the government now – today”, Mahathir said.
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The biggest victor, though, in the election is not Mahathir.
“I can not accept this country being destroyed by selfish people who only think about themselves. who steal money”, he said, referencing the 1MDB corruption scandal which has dogged Najib’s premiership.
Razak’s administration struggled to shake off claims that he was involved in a campaign to plunder state investment fund 1MDB, slammed by the U.S. as “kleptocracy at its worst”.
Najib, the son of a Malaysian founding father, presented himself as a reformer when he came to power in 2009. An UMNO official told the Journal that Mr. Najib had been planning to take a break and to return afterward to Malaysia. Will Mahathir eventually step aside as prime minister for Anwar, as he has promised?
Anwar’s wife, Wan Azizah, endorsed Mahathir and served as his deputy in the coalition to oust Najib.
People stood on roadsides waving the white, blue and red flag of the opposition alliance that triumphed in Wednesday’s election.
“Impossible. I didn’t dare think even though I was out there and I saw the crowds”, said his daughter Marina Mahathir.
-I Made Sentana and Yantoultra Ngui contributed to this article.
Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia’s newly elected prime minister, said on Friday that the king was poised to pardon jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and that the country could recover most of the billions of dollars lost in the 1MDB corruption scandal.
“We are not seeking revenge”, the 92-year-old prime minister said. Mr Mahathir sacked Mr Anwar from his post as deputy prime minister and persecuted him after they fell out around the Asian financial crisis in 1998.
Anwar was a senior figure in government and Mahathir’s heir-apparent until the pair dramatically fell out.
Mr Mohamad competed in the election in an alliance of opposition parties he crushed while in power, which included jailed opposition icon Anwar Ibrahim.
He did not say how long the process will take and whether Anwar could be freed before his sentence ends on June 8.
He governed the country from 1981-2003, overseeing a period of rapid industrialization and infrastructure building.
In retirement, Mahathir was a constant critic of Abdullah, though his barbs were nothing compared to his subsequent attacks on Najib.
In a statement, Anwar thanked “the people of Malaysia for their courage in making a change which is a victory for the people”.
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Faced with a reinvigorated opposition, the government used all the levers of power to further tilt the playing field in its favor, critics and analysts said.
