Dr M says he is happy with Anwar’s return to Parliament

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he is happy with the return of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to the Dewan Rakyat after winning the Port Dickson parliamentary by-election on Saturday.

“I’ve expected him to come back. We knew he was going to win. Of course, I’m happy. He is from the same party,” Dr Mahathir told reporters at the Parliament lobby yesterday.

Anwar, the PKR president-elect, fended off six other contenders to secure the mandate with a 23,560vote majority. His challengers were Lt Col (Rtd) Mohd Nazari Mokhtar of PAS and five independent candidates including former Negeri Sembilan menteri besar Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad and a former personal aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

Anwar took his oath of office today as a member of the Dewan Rakyat before Speaker Datuk Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof soon after the Dewan Rakyat convened for its second meeting of the first session of the 14th Parliament.

Dr Mahathir, queried on the efforts to do away with the mandatory death sentence, pointed out that the necessary legislation has not yet been passed.

“Just saying it doesn’t mean that the punishment has been abolished. It has not yet been abolished, we have to wait until we pass the necessary act,” he said.

On Malaysia’s decision to release 11 ethnic Uighur Muslims from detention, he said: “They have done nothing wrong in this country, so they are released.”

It was reported that they had arrived in Turkey.

The move has drawn criticism from Beijing. – Bernama