LANGKAWI – Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, among the oldest active politicians in the world, will likely not defend his Langkawi parliamentary seat in the next general election due to weakened health.
The former prime minister who led the country over a total of some 24 years, cited his recent treatment at the National Heart Institute (IJN) as the main reason for not wanting to contest in the 15th general election, which is due by September next year.
“I have yet to recover. I’m still weak. So, I think we should give the opportunity to someone else (to stand in Langkawi),” the Pejuang chairman told reporters here today.
Dr Mahathir served as the country’s prime minister from 1981 to 2003 and then again from 2018 to 2020.
The 97-year-old said his party has not identified who would succeed him but noted with good humour that it would be “someone younger”.
However, Dr Mahathir is understood to be keen to continue helping in Langkawi’s development towards becoming a leading leisure destination in the region.
Officials in his entourage here told The Vibes that Dr Mahathir will visit the island from time to time to check on the various ongoing projects if his health permits.
Langkawi is supposed to benefit from the proposed RM40 billion master-city mixed development project named Widad@Langkasuka together with Arab partners.
Widad Business Group Sdn Bhd (WBG), an integrated facility management, property, and construction conglomerate, is planning to develop the project with an estimated gross development value of RM40 billion along the island’s reclaimed coastline.
WBG is a wholly bumiputera private company owned by Kedah-born entrepreneur Tan Sri Muhammad Ikmal Opat Abdullah.
From the time he was a fresh medical graduate in the 1940s to his current nonagenarian age, Dr Mahathir has been known as a master of Malaysian politics, but his recent health scare has left him somewhat cautious.
He was discharged from IJN on February 5 after his initial admission there almost a month before.
He had been in the cardiac care unit for some time before he was moved to an ordinary ward as his condition continued to improve.
IJN announced that he was undergoing rehabilitative treatment at the facility, while making scheduled visits to his home from the hospital for physiotherapy and additional medical procedures. – The Vibes, March 9, 2022
