Surprise meeting between Anwar, Mahathir takes Malaysia by storm
This meeting could prove to be a shift in Malay votes in the next General Elections in Malaysia. The opposition, now joined by former PM Tun Mahathir Mohammad, could get the boost it lacked to garner a majority of the Malay support in peninsular Malaysia.
The surprise meeting and hand-shake by the two former political heavyweights in the Barisan National government in the 1990’s has taken the country by storm. The picture has made the headlines in international media online. It is a real game changer, observers said, while pro-government blogs and media are calling it the ‘height of hypocrisy’.
“The first meeting after 18 years 3 days..since 2 September 1998,” Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail tweeted a picture of her husband warmly shaking hands with a smiling Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad this afternoon.
The twitter pic, posted here, is making the rounds of social media and portals, with the pro-Umno news sites lambasting Mahathir for his meeting with Anwar.
Former prime minister Tun Mahathir Mohamad turned up in court this afternoon to show support for his former deputy who is filing an interim injunction at the High Court here to stop the National Security Council (NSC) Act 2016 from being enforced.
HISTORY
Anwar was fired as deputy prime minister on 2 September 1998 by Mahathir who later ensured that he was imprisoned and charged with sodomy and corruption, yet it is Mahathir who know comes calling on Anwar in court today.
Mahathir was said to be instrumental to Anwar’s firing and jailing, and both men never appeared to be in the mood to meet each other after this dark episode in Malaysia’s history.
But it must be noted that both Mahathir and Anwar did constitute the most formidable political team in Malaysia. Will they be seen on the same platform soon?
Nevertheless, Malaysian Digest wrote that blogger Ahiruddin Atan was stunned when he saw the picture of Mahathir shaking Anwar’s hand.
He
highlighted the situation as a moment of desperation for Mahathir, akin to the “mountain coming to Anwar”.
“I thought I’d never seen the two of them photographed together, like this, ever again. I also thought I’d never seen Dr Mahathir Mohamad looking this small,” he wrote in his blog, Rocky’s Bru.
This is probably one step further in Mahathir’s and Anwar’s attempt to topple Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.