Mahathir, 93, feeling his age

Mahathir, 93, feeling his age

Published on: Friday, November 02, 2018

Kuala Lumpur: Leaning back in his chair and admitting he is feeling every one of his 93 years, the world’s oldest leader Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad says his second stint as Malaysian Prime Minister is taking its toll as he grapples with everything from fending off China to paying down a mammoth national debt.

“I should be dead now, actually,” joked the nonagenarian leader in an interview with AFP Thursday.

The veteran statesman is as sharp and straight-talking as ever, and not one to shy away from offering frank views on controversial issues, including gay rights and anti-Semitism.

But it’s not been an easy ride for Dr Mahathir – who has suffered increasing health problems in recent years – since his ramshackle alliance won a shock victory at May elections and toppled the corruption-plagued regime of Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Since then, a host of former leaders have been arrested for corruption, many linked to the novel-worthy political saga around sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, in which billions of dollars were allegedly looted in a fraud stretching from Singapore to Switzerland.

Aside from the crackdown on corruption, Dr Mahathir is seeking to pay off a US$250 billion (RM1 trillion) national debt, and has cancelled a string of costly China-backed mega-projects, risking the ire of the world’s number-two economy. On top of that, his own coalition is an uneasy alliance.

It was cobbled together as a means of ousting Najib and is packed with politicians who once vehemently opposed him, including former nemesis Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, now the presumptive successor to the premiership.

“It is exhausting,” conceded Dr Mahathir.

“This time around I have to do more work than the first time I became Prime Minister… the whole government machinery has been destroyed almost.”

Dr Mahathir’s victory took almost everyone — including his own alliance — by surprise, and amounted to a political earthquake that ousted the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition after six decades in power.

After years of graft scandals and divisive racial politics in the multi-ethnic country, voters finally had enough of BN, with the 1MDB scandal the tipping point for many.

Najib’s fall from grace has been swift. He and his luxury-loving wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor have been arrested — Najib has now been hit with a total of 38 corruption charges — and both are likely facing long jail terms.

A stash of cash, jewellery and hundreds of designer handbags worth over US$270 million was seized from properties linked to the pair.

Other figures aligned with the previous government, from the central bank chief to the attorney general, have left their positions, and Dr Mahathir and his team are scrambling to fill big holes in the administration.

“I had to get rid of people who in the past, under the previous government, had… politically been involved with government,” said Dr Mahathir in the interview at the office of a foundation that he heads the in administrative capital Putrajaya.

“A lot of things were spoiled by Najib in his effort to use every institution to ensure his winning the election.”

Photo Source: AFP