bridget welsh do you for see dr mahathir having as much political sway as he held in the past. actually i think in some ways he will have more in that he has a mandate was massive coming into office we're talking about almost twenty to twenty five percent swings in voters and construed in constituencies and unlike in the past where he came in from the system he's coming in as a comeback person someone at the age of ninety two the oldest living leader in the world right now and he is seen as actually coming in to make changes to try to make the system better to correct some of the mistakes that he made when he was in office from one hundred eighty one to two thousand and three so i think he's going to be in some ways powerful very powerful he's only he's also a man in the hurry so he he's not planning to stay long so i think that this is going to create of dynamism through his administration that i think will be very important as malaysia moves forward songs you i want to pick up on something that bridget was just mentioning the fact that it's expected that dr mahathir will not

he says he will not serve in a cabin at under dr mahathir.with dr mahathir himself. —— cabinet. what he stressed when he was out and talking to supporters is that he was very confident in the job dr mahathir is doing. he is very happy to let him do that. they have an agreement. it is one dr mahathir has agreed to. he will hand over power to anwar ibrahim within two years. anwar ibrahim, who is looking quite tired, actually, and more tired than when i saw him going into prison, says less him govern. he says he is in no great rush to get into politics and would be happy to travel and spend time with his family. he also stressed, as far as things are going, he is very co mforta ble things are going, he is very comfortable with the processes that have been undertaken, even in these last few days while he has still technically been incarcerated. importantly, cabinet technically been incarcerated. importa ntly, cabinet positions technically been incarcerated. importantly, cabinet positions are starting to be confirmed. he raised no objection to the

dr. mahathir said that will be renegotiated and re-examined now. so i think we have to be careful here i don't think this incoming administration will pull the plug on chinese investments. i think there's going to be more scrutiny to them, so some investments may be put on hold or develop to a slower pace. back to the here and now there are real questions about the transition process prime minister najib issued a declaration or some comments really a couple hours ago here in the malaysian capital it wasn't really tantamount to an outright concession to the opposition coalition in fact, he chose his words carefully. i think he was speaking to his constituency and to grassroots supporters, because it was really tantamount to questioning the numbers here and what the defeat of prime minister said is no single party won a majority in the election so there's some issues there in terms of the process, by dr. mahathir was clear on this as well he said that we want to govern his coalition want to start the business of governance as soon as 5:00 later on to

this morning, dr mahathir let everyone know on his twitter account that he was getting straight downng he said he had discussed with the king at his inauguration, getting mr anwar released from prison. it is going to be a full pardon which first means that he will not only be pardoned, he should be released immediately when he is pardon. after that, he will be free to participate fully in politics. this is the next essential stage in an extraordinary personal drama between the two men who began as partners in power, broke up into acrimonious rivalry and have been brought back together again as allies in this unexpectedly successful bid to unseat the ruling party that they once led. back in the 1990s, when dr mahathir dominated malaysian politics, anwar ibrahim was his deputy and chosen successor but they fell out over the handling of the asian financial crisis. mr anwar was sacked and then arrested. at one point, he showed a black eye that suggested a beating, sparking angry protests against the mahathir government, the start of a reform movement which now, against the odds, finds it

this morning, dr mahathir let everyone know on his twitter account that he was getting straight down one order of business more important than the rest, something he said he had discussed with the king at his inauguration, getting mr anwar released from prison. it is going to be a full pardon which first means that he will not only be pardoned, he should be released immediately when he is pardon. after that, he will be free to participate fully in politics. this is the next essential stage in an extraordinary personal drama between the two men who began as partners in power, broke up into acrimonious rivalry and have been brought back together again as allies in this unexpectedly successful bid to unseat the ruling party that they once led. back in the 1990s, when dr mahathir dominated malaysian politics, anwar ibrahim was his deputy and chosen successor but they fell out over the handling of the asian financial crisis. mr anwar was sacked and then arrested. at one point, he showed a black eye that suggested a beating, sparking angry protests against the mahathir government, the star

former prime minister dr mahathir mohamad is making a comeback — at the age of 92.eports. has there ever been such a bold political gamble by someone of this age? hardly showing his 92 years, mahathir mohamad has captivated this campaign, asking malaysian voters, many of whom weren't alive when he first took office, to give him another chance. he castigates the current prime minister and his wife for greed and corruption. in a slick and sentimental campaign video, the veteran leader explains to a young girl and boy that he has had to come back to fix the problems caused by his successors. the issue opposition activists are hoping will fire up the voters is this — imdb, a government—linked investment body from which billions of dollars were allegedly stolen, the subject of investigations around the world. the man they are trying to unseat, prime minister najib razak, actually owes his job to past support from dr mahathir. now he is using the promise of government largess to keep it, here promising more money for this low—cost public housing estate, and a boost to the

martin mohammed who won the election sting razzak has become embroiled in a corruption scandal well dr mahathir mohamad holding a news conference right now will take you likely a significant politically internationally as well as domestically because what you're looking at is the world's oldest elected prime minister ninety two years old with a simple parliamentary election system he had to get past two hundred twelve seats one hundred thirteen that coalition we're being told will stay together is pretty solid in the film meaning that he will very old and very probably become the next prime minister although ultimately it's down to the king to decide we're expecting that decision a little later today. should have the support of any party is wrong is he this is a born of a big deal eat bread i mean is there is this a vote of the media will the of members of parliament he is and then build the week up there prime minister and then he made during the is there a name game and. he be duly abe i did. see. there's been some. is. a length of understanding of the asian but we link to me it's clear that

the first of which was the way dr mahathir came back from retirement to head the opposition coalitioninant. he managed to entice some of the biggest names of the old guard to support the opposition for the very first time and also convince many of the malay muslim voters and perhaps more establishment type voters to switch their affiliations at the last minute. the second i suppose would be the huge corruption scandal that najib has been involved in or allegedly involved in in the last two years. it is being investigated by multiple countries around the world, including the us department ofjustice. that gained traction, especially in the urban seats. let's get more on another of our top stories. three american citizens released from north korea are on their way home with the us secretary of state mike pompeo. kim jong—un agreed to release the men ahead of historic talks with donald trump. balbina hwang, a visiting professor who specialises in east asian security at georgetown university, says the men's release is a necessary step. it is certainly an important prelude to the historic s

tiger could you tell our viewers a little bit about what the economy was like in malaysia before dr mahathir took power and then how he transformed it and where it stands now so before he transformed it it was very reliant on primary products as their export market but what they did during the time of the hockey was actually focus on electronics. the assembly of electronic goods and and also basically taking advantage of the lowest cost base the labor force at office. and in that regard it is that has actually expanded in that area while exports of cars and services accounted for something light from low proportion to the height which was probably a few years ago around about two hundred percent of nominal g.d.p. that's quite an achievement to increase your externals that as a proportion of g.d.p. to back sort of scale going forward there are challenges so basically at the moment

dr mahathir they are speaking to jonathan head.oday india's supreme court will hear a plea to turn the kathua girl rape case into a federal rather than local investigation. following a public outcry demanding death penalty for those accused of gang raping the eight—year—old girl, the government had made the laws stricter, including death penalty for those convicted of raping girls below 12 years of age. yogita limaye travelled to india's jammu and kashmir state to report on this case. once again, a rape and murder brought people out on the streets in india. this time the victim was nearly eight years old. she belonged to this more islam nomadic tribe. they roam the hills and valleys of the state of jammu and they roam the hills and valleys of the state ofjammu and kashmir. she was captured when she was out grazing horses. police say she was raped, tortured, and murdered by hindus who wanted to be tried to move off their land. herfamily has continue their journey move off their land. herfamily has continue theirjourney into the moun

it is it is quite extraordinary many ironies here he is credited dr mahathir with twenty two years of strong leadership some would say verging on or thora tarion leadership a certain amount of cronyism the same kind of cronyism which arguably has now led to what many people believe has been the widespread corruption within the current government led by the ruling party that you see here but this seems to be very late in life here possibly turning over a new leaf at the ground old age of ninety two saying here except that many of the problems currently being. currently here in malaysia were the result of his time in power including of course the promotion of his. so he says he accepts that but will soon hand over power to what the person he believes should be the rightful prime minister of malaysia and that's and what you bring him the leader of the opposition currently languishing in prison and probably today in his prison cell enjoying some of these titles peter rob thanks talk to later. still to come here on al-jazeera a hostage situation at a prison in indonesia has ended we'll hav

dr. mahathir dominated malaysian brahim was while his deputy andhosen successor. they fl out over the financial crisis. and mr. anwar was sacked and showing a one point ack eye that suggested a beating, sparking ang protest against the government, the start ofm a refor movement which now against the odds finds itself in government. mr. anwar was released prison after five years and omarted his cny to defeat the ruling party despite an election system weighed heavily against him. but dr. mahathir continued to condemn him and in this bbc news interview five years ago it was a scandaldi surro him says mr. mahathir that forced him to swites s and join his old rival.f the site o this elder statesman campaigning in the rain on the side ofhepposition has ignited a wave of hopeful noss ja in malaysians for the days when these two men presided over malaysia's economic success story. but two decades later, can they repeat that success and p their past battles behind him? reporter: brazil has the dubious distinction of being one orlando the world'sost unequal country. sao pa

they have an agreement, it is not written is down, but it is one dr mahathir himself as repeated, thate position of prime ministry to anwar ibrahim within two years. anwar ibrahim is looking quite tired, and older than when i saw him before he went into prison. he was saying that let him govern, i am in no great rush to get into politics, would be happy to travel a little bit and see my family. he also stressed that as far as things are going, he is very coupled with the processes that have been undertaken in these last few days while he has still been incarcerated. importantly, cabinet positions are starting to be confirmed will stop he raised no objection, for example, to the secretary general of the democratic action party, the mainly chinese party, taking the finance ministry. it was formerly controlled by prime minister najib razak. the help of violence that may close. it is an important symbol that they will be apportioned fairly between the coalition partners and according to merit. as far as the message we got from anwar ibrahim, he is comfortable with the way things are and is

former prime minister dr mahathir mohamad is making a comeback at the age of 92.respondentjonathan head asked dr mahathir what his plan is if his opposition coalition wins, against the odds. after me, we have decided that anwar ibrahim will be the eighth prime minister. he will be released soon, we'll get a pardon for him, and then he can be eligible to become prime minister. of course, he has to be elected, and we have already decided. this is a man that, when i interviewed you last time, five years ago, you described as immoral, as unfit to be a leader. yes, but you can't punish people for a lifetime. you know, one commits crime when we were indiscreet, when young, but we can't punish people the whole — for his whole life. i mean, you groomed anwar to succeed you in the 1990s. you chose ahmad badawi to succeed you in 2003. your approval was crucial in the current prime minister najib ascending. you have turned against all of them. what does that say about you? when they were given power, they changed. they're not the same. najib did't steal money when i was prim

milly's it with the oppositional lines led by the country's former rather authoritarian rule of dr mahathir mohamad has won a big majority in parliament in effect ending six decades of rule government by the national front the election commission saying official results has the opposition so far winning i think it's hundred thirteen out of the two hundred twenty two seats in the parliament the national front. that's in our party has so far won seventy nine is a stunning defeat and it also makes marty a mohamad at ninety two years old the world's oldest elected leader let's just listen in to the prime minister the former prime minister one should say. elect a thing to give my profound stinks. to a leader is often does a national his party. that initial level. also look. at the grassroots level and the friends in those initial know who have worked. day and night. to prepare the programs and activities that. are connected with the general election. since that took over the role. in two zero zero nine. the government tried. as best as they could do to raise. the quality of life of the people an

coalition is likely to win the most seats but it's expected to be a close race between him and dr mahathir mohamad chairman of the opposition alliance let's take a look now at the main candidates and what's at stake the prime minister najib razak has been in power since two thousand and nine his right wing coalition has dominated malaysian politics for more than sixty years but allegations of his links to a corruption scandal involving the state owned investment fund may affect his party's performance competing against is his one time mentor and formally the prime minister mahathir mohamad the ninety two year old quit his old party and gave the country's opposition a huge boost twenty four to an alliance with them and their jobs coalition is still expected to win the vote but a significant loss of seats to muttiah could leave the prime minister open to a leadership challenge within his own party discontent over the rising cost of living among voters may also sway the results live now to kuala lumpur and my colleague florence leary florence if it's as close as we think it might be what happ

country's king has agreed to pardon a jailed leading opposition figure on what abraham immediately dr mahathir mohamad also told a news conference he would reveal his cabinet on saturday the ninety two year old was sworn in after a shock when they swept the opposition to power for the first time in the country's history on what is currently serving a jail sentence after being convicted of sodomy when he joins us live from kuala lumpur where you just walk us through what he's been saying at this news conference today yes well peter late on thursday after mohammed was sworn in as the seventh prime minister of malaysia he said after that that the work would begin immediately and that's exactly what has happened on friday morning he convened a meeting of the senior members of their victorious coalition in that meeting as you say they discussed the cabinet positions which he says will be confirmed on saturday and they also discussed the fate of anwar ibrahim the former deputy prime minister under. a was prime minister for the first time in the eighty's and ninety's a man that fired in one nine hund

dr mahathir mohamad has agreed to hand over power to anwar ibrahim, who has to be elected as an mp, butht forward very quickly. how smoothly do you think that transition will be to bring him into the leadership at some stage? of course, everyone is making a big deal of the fact that doctor muhammad hadi is in fact 92. i think it's awkward. both these men are rivals. he tried to unseat him in 1998, he tried to bring refamasi to malaysia and after that, he lost power. these two men are former rivals. they appear to have kissed and made up in order to unseat najib razak, who had jailed anwar on charges, but it is awkward and we have already seen some of this emerge that the announcement of some members of the cabinet — clearly anwar ibrahim's party, which is now led by his wife, is unhappy with some of the initial appointments and so i think this is going to be an awkward coalition at best. and before they even get down the government, let's face it, they are going to have to deal with the ousted prime minister, najib razak. of course police raided the deluxe kl apartment block over the we

martin mohammed who won the election sting razzak has become embroiled in a corruption scandal well dr mahathir mohamad holding a news conference right now will take you live. if we can politically internationally as well as domestically because what you're looking at is the world's oldest elected prime minister ninety two years old with a simple parliamentary election system he had to get past two hundred twelve seats one hundred thirteen that coalition we're being told will stay together is pretty solid in the film meaning that he will very old and very probably become the next prime minister although ultimately it's down to the king to decide we're expecting that decision a little later today. is a board of any deep. sea this is born of a big deal eat bread i mean is there is this a bone of the media will be of members of parliament he is and then build the week up there prime minister and then he made during the is there a name game and. he be duly abe i did. see. there's been some. is. a leg up on.

being banned from leaving the country after the shock election defeat to his mentor turned photo dr mahathir mohamad the indonesian parliament has approved stronger anti terror legislation which allows the military to become involved in county counter-terrorism policing detention periods can be expanded now the change follows a series of recent suicide bomb attacks last week more than twenty people were killed at churches and i'm really main police station and sort of buy in these is second biggest city to families including children carried out the attacks claimed by ice more news whenever you want it on the website al jazeera dot com up next here on al-jazeera it's the stream i'll be back at the top of the hour with thirty minutes of al-jazeera world news hopefully see you then bye bye. scope of the world of al-jazeera. the best films from across all the work of. the law in this is to be good but the bulk of the fresh perspectives and new insights. to challenge and change the way we look. i'll just hear over. this time on just. hi emily could be and here in the stream live on al-jazeera an

jobs are banned from leaving the country after a shock election defeat to his mentor turned photo dr mahathir mohamad. in libya at least seven people have been killed and twenty five others were wounded after a car bomb exploded in eastern city of benghazi local sources say it happened behind a hotel near a syrian products market you're right up to date with all the top stories up next on this channel it's al-jazeera world will have more news for you right here in about twenty five minutes. and. the. who. moved. in with. them and then the other side and then you could get it. broke or cut our short i don't know know. that any of it might have done. so there you must know. of course a quite a great article call it took or quicker than that the negotiation over the course i got on the come i could start this by starting so gotta start on the schedule my to move on or home while when or so to get out quite a long way you know. as i've said on those who don't. clear a while and come on i don't know when you'll know but it will build almost a shock and it's great i don't want to tell sony not caus

dr mahathir is the man who first jailed mr anwar 20 years ago.his release this time. and it's now has been agreed that mr anwar will replace him as prime minister in two years time. shortly after being freed mr anwar spoke to the bbc‘sjonathon head about their history. iam i am elated by this change. throughout the world people have been seeing, particularly the muslim world, it is not gloom and despair. and the last few years. now, there's a glimmer of hope, that can actually transform and defend that argument. how difficult has it been to make deals with your rival, there's a lot of bad blood between them to pass a stop to most of been quite tricky. it was, clearly was quite difficult because i have no intention of, the necessity working together. but to his credit, he he came and said look, the country is facing immediate challenges. we need to find an understanding and work together. seeking to you? yes, he came to the court. because they didn't allow him to visit the prison. so he came to the court. it was difficult of course, very difficult

in the city of peak can it's expected to be a close race between him and the opposition leader dr mahathir mohamad those are your headlines so far the news continues here on al-jazeera after powerful seeds of discord i will see you very soon. plath. was i. was there was. was. was. was. absolutely. the voice there david ben-gurion declaring the establishment of the state of israel in maine one nine hundred forty eight. the balfour declaration was a letter sent by british foreign secretary arthur balfour to a member of the british house of lords child on the second of november one thousand nine hundred seventeen. this letter sent to a leading figure in the british jewish community one hundred years ago had repercussions which even its authors cannot have imagined. whatever its real intentions it went on to have a profound impact on the middle east and its people. and its effects still resonates across the region today. in one nine hundred fourteen these soldiers were fighting on the battlefields of europe in the first world war the allies britain france and russia fought the central powers o

this ok so it is it's an opening it's a window of opportunity for malaysia isn't it yes it is even dr mahathir of course is a longstanding leader in the country and because his party was also from the ruling party because not cheap the previous president was folk who are up he joined the opposition and announced that he will stop that small political group takes it all and this not much left for the people there so you want to stop that now among one of the focuses of your trip was malaysia's human rights record now the country is getting a lot right isn't it but there is still work to do of course all of the colleagues who work in human rights they told us now we enjoy for four days because there were so holy days and after this we make. a road map for human rights and there are a lot of laws which are law against fake news if you criticize that was fake news you couldn't you have to a petal. as for the right to assembly minority rights needs to be protected and i think the whole understanding of the reform of the institutions that the rule of flow driveways and nobody not even heads of parti

dr. mahathir matters of trade within the region. is approaching matters of trade and how malaysia and other key countries are. tom: we go from multilateral, the advent of the wto over to the president's idea of bilateral, which is unilateral. let's cut back to your ability to read the domestic press of the government in china. how is my way or the highway playing in china, particularly with the conversation in the moment we saw this morning with north korea? meredith: i think the chinese are watching president trump with interest. -- is coming next week. tom: the economic advisor. meredith: he is them use of xi of xig, -- the muse jinping. tom: is economic advisor is not pboc, he is part of the politburo. meredith: he is a vice premier that has oversight over the economy. tom: is he advantaged by speaking to secretary of state pompeo versus secretary of state tillerson? meredith: yes, but i do not think he is coming to washington to talk to secretary of state pompeo. we saw seven cabinet leaders go to beijing last week with a long l

charges in 2015 but the election of prime minister mahathir mohamad last week, has paved the way for him to be given a full royal pardon. with me is drheast asian studies at the national university of singapore. bethesda, thank you so much for joining us. after that pardon, will prime minister mahathir mohamad on his pledge for anwar ibrahim to eventually take flour?|j his pledge for anwar ibrahim to eventually take flour? i think so, that was his campaign pledge so i don't think he will go back on his words and also because mahathir‘s party in the coalition is a small proportion of the coalition which won the election. how soon will anwar ibrahim take power? according to mahathir, 1—2 years. anwar ibrahim take power? according to mahathir, 1-2 years. sooner? i don't think so because mahathir himself is determined to institute one, the charges against najib's administration which was involved in the scandal, and i think that is his first commitment, to see through that, at least some people get to be charged on the scandal. the other thing is, institutional reform. that will least take two years if not more. we are very determined ——

sodomy charges in 2015 but the election of prime minister mahathir mohamad last week has paved the way for him to be given a full royal pardon. drhink tank, penang institute, and hejoins us now from kuala lumpur. thank you so much forjoining us. when anwar is pardoned and released, what would be the first step for him to get back into the political landscape? he would need to run in a by—election to be elected to return to parliament and then to be appointed as a cabinet minister. i believe he would take over as deputy prime minister as well. would he really wa nt prime minister as well. would he really want to be deputy prime minister, which is currently occupied by this wife, orjust a political adviser and a cabinet member of the anwar mahathir mohamad administration? the better solution would be for him to replace this wife as deputy prime minister. as a matter of the fact that by—election would need to be taking place when this wife vacates her seat. if he becomes deputy prime minister the big question is, of course, the prime minister has said he can take power in one to two years. in your view, mr wong, could power in one

dr mahathir mohamad, who was prime minister for 22 years in the 1980s and ‘90s, has come back aged 92the election as leader of the opposition. jonathan head reports. has there ever been such a bold political gamble by someone of this age? hardly showing his 92 years, he has captivated this campaign, asking malaysian voters, many of whom were alive when he last took office, to give him another chance. he castigates the current prime minister and his wife for greed and corruption. in a slick and sentimental campaign video, the vetera n sentimental campaign video, the veteran leader explains to a young girland boy veteran leader explains to a young girl and boy that he has had to come back to fix the problems caused by his successors. the issue opposition activists are hoping will fire up the voters is this. imdb, a government linked investment body from which billions of dollars were allegedly stolen, the subject of investigations around the world. the man they are trying to unseat, the prime minister, actually owes his job to past support from doctor mahathir now he is using the promis