KUCHING, May 11: Prime Minister Tun Mr Mahathir Mohamad says he would stay but not for too long.
He said this at the press conference last night at 11.15pm which was broadcasted live on social media, after he was sworn in as the country’s seventh prime minister at Istana Negara.
“I will stay as long as my experience is needed but not too long,” said Dr Mahathir, when answering a question posed by the media.
He said the new government would put emphasis on the rebuilding of the country’s economy and finance.
He reassured the business community that the new government would built a “business-friendly government” which will focus on two “things” — the financial and economic management of the nation,
He called on the business community to push up the prices in the stock market as well as to maintain the value of the Malaysian ringgit as there was no cause of devaluation.
On the nation’s huge debt, he said according to Bank Negara, it amounted to RM800 billion but it could be higher as there were more which were hidden.
The way to deal with it, he said, would be to re-negotiate for a better deal or to pay some, by using 1MDB funds which he said would be taken as the whereabouts of the funds are known to be kept in other countries including Singapore, USA and Switzerland.
He said the new government would try to increase the confidence of investors by ruling the country in accordance to the law of the country.
Oppressive laws such as the Fake News Law even though was just passed, would be abolished.
Meanwhile, the new government would also try to work on the case of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) de-facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim by seeking a full pardon from the King.
The new government would also look into other cases such as that of PKR’s Rafizi Ramli.
He said a new cabinet will be formed based on the agreement of all coalition parties where the top leaders of coalition parties will have a presidential council meeting to determine the members of the cabinet.
In answering the question whether there would be a change of “heads of departments”, Dr Mahathir said “certain heads must roll” for abetting the leaders of the previous regime. — DayakDaily
