Mahathir back, in stunning electoral comeback

MAHATHIR Mohamad was sworn in as Malaysia’s seventh prime minister on Thursday after a stunning election comeback, defeating the coalition that has ruled the nation for six decades since independence from Britain.

Malaysia’s constitutional monarch, Sultan Muhammad V, administered the oath of office in a ceremony carried live on state television from the palace.

Mahathir, 92, dubbed the “Father of Modern Malaysia” during his previous 22 years in power until 2003, was dressed in a traditional black “baju melayu” tunic and sarong, with an Islamic cap on his head. His return from retirement makes him the oldest elected leader in the world.

Hundreds of Malaysians lined the road leading to the palace, waving party flags and cheering. The Election Commission announced the result long before dawn and there was some consternation in the capital Kuala Lumpur over the time taken to swear in the new prime minister.

At a press conference after being sworn in, Mahathir reassured the financial community and said he would prioritise stabilising the economy and return billions of dollars lost in a graft scandal.

Malaysian markets were closed and will reopen only on Monday, but overseas investors were nervous about the ousting of Prime Minister Najib Razak after a decade in office and the ringgit lost 4 per cent in offshore trading.

Mahathir was known for his strongarm, sometimes pugnacious style of rule intolerant of dissent from 1981 to 2003, but also for transforming his south-east Asian country from a sleepy backwater into a modern industrialised nation. He came out of retirement to take on his ex-protégé, Najib.

Mahathir’s alliance of four parties trounced Najib’s Barisan Nasional party, the first time it had ever lost an election.