Mahathir sworn in after shock victory

Mahathir Mohamad, a former Malaysian prime minister who led the opposition to a stunning victory in the general election, took the oath of office on Thursday night, becoming the world's oldest elected leader at the age of 92.

In a huge political upset, Mahathir's opposition alliance broke the grip on power of the Barisan Nasional coalition, which had governed Malaysia uninterrupted since its birth as an independent country in 1957.

The vote tally released by the Malaysian Election Commission on Thursday showed that the opposition alliance Pakatan Harapan, or PH, led by Mahathir, won 113 seats out of the 222 seats of the parliament's lower house, enough for them to form the federal government.

Mahathir ruled Malaysia from 1981 to 2003. Born in a small village near the border with Thailand, Mahathir is known for steering Malaysia from a mining backwater to become one of Asia's fastestgrowing economies.

His PH alliance of four parties trounced the BN coalition of prime minister Najib Razak.

Najib's BN won 79 seats, a collapse from the 133 it won in the 2013 election, which was itself the coalition's worst poll performance ever at the time.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang said on Thursday that Mahathir is a veteran statesman, who made great contributions to the development of China-Malaysia relations.

The comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Malaysia has a sound momentum for development, the mutually-beneficial cooperation has achieved significant outcomes and brought substantial benefits to both countries and the two peoples, which should be cherished and safeguarded by both sides, Geng said.

Mahathir has promised to hand over the premiership to Anwar Ibrahim, a former deputy prime minister who is in prison on sodomy charges and is scheduled to be released in June.

"Our struggle to change Malaysian politics is not wasted. We believe Mahathir can make a change," said PH member Mohamad Azlan Shah.

Mahathir was once Najib's patron but they clashed over a scandal around 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB, a state fund from which billions of dollars were allegedly siphoned off.

The 1MDB affair is being investigated by at least six countries, although Najib has denied any wrongdoing and has been cleared by Malaysia's attorney-general.

At a news conference on Thursday morning, Mahathir said he would not seek revenge but is "seeking to restore the rule of law".

Mahathir had vowed to investigate the scandal if elected and bring missing funds back to Malaysia. On Thursday he said that if Najib had done anything wrong he would "face the consequences".

Multiple polls before the election had predicted that BN would extend its grip on power.

The rout of BN was made possible by a swing of BN core supporters to PH such as those in rural areas, who have long relied on subsidies and favorable BN policies.

Xinhua, Reuters and Gao Desheng in Beijing contributed to this story.

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(China Daily 05/11/2018 page11)