PETALING JAYA: Dr Mahathir Mohamad will not be contesting the next general election, the former prime minister said in a media interview on Thursday.
“I want to stay a bit longer but I thought I will serve for a short period,” he told the Kyodo news agency in Putrajaya. “But I will not be contesting in the 15th election,” said Mahathir, who was elected Langkawi MP in 2018.
Mahathir, 95, held the record as the world’s oldest head of government when he returned to Putrajaya in a second stint as prime minister after Pakatan Harapan won power in the May 2018 general election.
He had previously been Malaysia’s longest serving prime minister, from 1981 to 2003.
Mahathir said he hoped his son, Mukhriz, would carry on his legacy. “It is up to him. I will not stand in his way. It’s not fair to him,” Mahathir said.
Mukhriz is interim president of Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) which Mahathir founded after leaving PPBM.
Mahathir said although out of government, he would continue fighting against corruption through Pejuang. “Pejuang has got very strong principles, among which is to stop this country from being corrupt,” he said.
He said the new Perikatan Nasional government, led by his former party PPBM, had taken on the old corrupt ways of Barisan Nasional.
“For three months after the Perikatan Nasional became the government, I did not make any comments because I wanted to see their performance. Unfortunately, it has reverted to corruption, buying support for the government. Despite that, it still only has a two-man majority,” Mahathir added.
He said the PN government was being propped up through bribery. “This is the worse form of corruption. The whole government is installed through corruption,” he said.
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