The Straits Times
08 September 2016
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- Mahathir-Anwar Handshake: Patching Up for a Shake-up?
Mahathir-Anwar Handshake: Patching Up for a Shake-up?
On Monday, Malaysia’s former prime minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, turned up at the High Court for Anwar Ibrahim’s filing of an interim injunction to stop the government from enforcing the newly-passed National Security Council (NSC) Act.
The former allies-turned- enemies shook hands and Dr Mahathir wished Anwar well.They also chatted for a good 45 minutes in the witness room – a long time for two bitter foes. This unscheduled encounter very quickly became the talk of town. It was their first contact since September 1998, when Dr Mahathir, then Prime Minister of Malaysia, unceremoniously sacked Anwar as his deputy. He subsequently had Anwar jailed for abuse of power and sodomy.
That was 18 years ago. In court this week, Dr Mahathir said he was there “not to talk about the past” but to show support for Anwar’s bid against the NSC, which both see as unconstitutional and fear will give Prime Minister Najib Razak too much power.
… Yang Razali Kassim is a senior fellow with the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
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Last updated on 08/09/2016
