He had proposed a united government, which would have given him more powers. Anwar and Muhyiddin both tried to consolidate power, with the latter getting the position of prime ministership. Mahathir and Anwar reunited on Saturday, but the king announced Muhyiddin as the new leader of the country.
Around protesters also gathered on Saturday night, to raise their voice against the king's decision. Prime Minister Mahathir's party has pulled out of a coalition with his long-time arch rival Anwar Ibrahim.
The decision is the latest chapter in the pair's political tug-of-war. Malaysia's ex-strongman Mahathir Mohamad and his allies scored a surprise victory over incumbent Najib Razak, who faces accusations of corruption. The year-old Mahathir is set to become world's oldest prime minister. Almost two decades after he was jailed on disputed sodomy charges, Anwar Ibraham has won a new parliamentary seat.
Now aged 71, he is expected to succeed Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad in two years. Najib has always denied the allegations and while still in office had been cleared by the country's authorities. But his time in office will likely be remembered as an era plagued with scandal and a strengthening of central power. Najib Razak is the eldest son of Abdul Razak, Malaysia's second prime minister and the nephew of Hussein Onn, its third prime minister.
After earning an industrial economics degree from the University of Nottingham in the UK, Najib returned to Malaysia in and worked for the state oil firm Petronas. When he moved into politics, Najib held numerous cabinet posts - as minister for energy, telecommunications, education, finance and defence - before becoming deputy prime minister to Abdullah Badawi in When Mr Abdullah stepped down in , he handed power to Najib.
Najib initially promised a more liberal political approach, but did not really follow through. While he reformed tough laws on public gatherings and repealed the controversial Internal Security Act in , he later reinstated detention without trial. The following year, he also went back on a pledge to repeal a controversial sedition law and instead strengthened it. Critics say the laws were a way for Najib to silence his political opponents and to pander to the ethnic Malay-Muslim majority who formed his political party's largest support base.
Opposition leader and former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim was convicted of sodomy for a second time in , charges Mr Anwar maintained were politically motivated. The opposition politician has since been pardoned by the new prime minister and is seen as a likely successor to Mr Mahathir. In , a security act aimed at combating terrorism was used to detain electoral reform activists.
Mahathir, 95, quit as prime minister in protest in late February after fellow party member Muhyiddin Yassin withdrew their Bersatu party from the ruling coalition, triggering its collapse less than two years after a historic victory in national polls. Mahathir, who was sacked from Bersatu along with his son and three other senior members, said Muhyiddin had hijacked the party and helped revive what he called a kleptocratic government.
He accused Muhyiddin of using money to buy support in Bersatu, causing it to stray from its goal of fighting graft. Mahathir said he believes many grassroots members are unhappy and still support him. Mahathir said the new party will be independent and not align with the opposition coalition led by Anwar Ibrahim, who was initially slated to succeed him in their previous government. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. Former Malaysian leader Najib Razak was found guilty Tuesday of corruption over the multi-billion-dollar 1MDB scandal that cost him his government, and could face decades in jail.
Malaysian prosecutors today filed new graft charges against former prime minister Najib Razak and the former chief executive of scandal-linked state fund 1MDB, in the latest cases over alleged theft of billions of dollars from the fund.
Rosmah Mansor, wife of Malaysia's former prime minister, was arrested today by the country's anti-graft agency over a multi-billion-dollar scandal that helped to bring down the last government.
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