Kuala Lumpur - Located at the State Palace, Mahathir Mohamad, was officially sworn in by Malaysia's King Muhammad V as the 7th Malaysian prime minister to replace Najib Razak. He triumphed after his Pakatan Harapan opposition led the election with 112 seats from 222 parliamentary seats contested.
As reported by the South China Morning Post, Thursday (10/05/2018), Mahathir who rode Proton car - national car brand that initiated - berpelat "Proton 2020" arrived at the State Palace at around 16:40 local time.
While serving as prime minister, Mahathir has promised to develop Malaysia's status by 2020.
Mahathir read his oath in the presence of King Muhammad V, and soon after he signed his endorsement as prime minister of Malaysia. Similarly, it was broadcast by Malaysian state television, Bernama.Kabar awal yang beredar menyebutkan, pelantikan Mahathir dijadwalkan akan dimulai pukul 17.00. Namun, baru pada sekitar pukul 22.00 waktu setempat, ia resmi diambil sumpahnya. Tidak dijelaskan mengapa terjadi penundaan yang cukup lama.
Mahathir mengenakan busana tradisional Melayu berwarna hitam lengkap dengan peci senada saat pelantikannya. Sang istri, Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali, pun memakai baju warna serupa.
Terpilih sebagai perdana menteri di usianya ke-92 tahun, menjadikan Mahathir sebagai pemimpin tertua di dunia.
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Leave UMNO, Establish New Party
Mahathir had led Malaysia for 22 years before retiring in 2003. He decided to return "down the mountain" after Najib was involved in a 1MDB corruption scandal.
1MDB is an investment agency established by the government of the neighbor country to provide benefits to its people. The idea, 1MDB will invest in a number of projects around the world, then the profits will be returned to the people of Malaysia.
However, in practice, the organization is accused of siphoning state funds into the personal accounts of Prime Minister Najib and his close associates.
Now, the United States and a number of other countries are investigating alleged embezzlement and cross-border money laundering related to 1MDB.
In 2016, Mahathir abandoned the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the long-standing political vehicle as well as the main party in the Barisan Nasional coalition. At that time, he said, "Shame attributed to parties that support corruption - referring to the 1MDB scandal."
Since then, he founded the Malaysian Indigenous Peoples Party (PPBM) and said he would run again through the Pakatan Harapan coalition he built with his former enemy Anwar Ibrahim and two other parties.
Under Mahathir's leadership, Malaysia became one of Asia's tigers. It is a name for a number of countries whose economy expanded rapidly in the 1990s.
However, on the other hand, Mahathir is branded an authoritarian figure who uses controversial security laws to silence his political opponents.
One of the most notable cases is the dismissal of former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who was later followed by allegations of corruption and sodomy after he called for economic and political reforms in 1998.
With regard to his age of nearly a century, Mahathir said he would only rule for two years before finally resigning. He pledged to have amnesty for Anwar Ibrahim, who is currently being held under sodomy charges, allowing the former deputy prime minister to take over the prime minister's seat.