The Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah has appointed Mahathir Mohamad as the interim prime minister.

King Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah accepted Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s resignation as Malaysia’s prime minister on Monday (Feb 24) evening, but according to Article 43 (2)(a) of the Federal Constitution, latter was subsequently reappointed as interim Prime Minister until a new one is chosen.

The interim prime minister post would be for a maximum of 10 days, a source told Malaysiakini.

Anwar Ibrahim said that Mahathir was not involved in the political coup, and that the shifting of political loyalties was the result of a treacherous plot by some members of his own PKR party.

Mahathir had resigned, Anwar said, to show that his name was being used.

Initially, the public perception was that Mahathir had tried to oust Anwar from power by denying him the chance to be the next prime minister of Malaysia.

Yesterday (Feb 24), Dr Mahathir, tendered his resignation while quitting as chairman of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) amid speculation that a new pact would be formed to replace Pakatan Harapan (PH) as the ruling coalition.

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His resignation comes two days after rumours abounded throughout Malaysia of him leading his own party, PPBM to leave PH, the ruling coalition, in order to form a new government with new parties involved.

This is the second time in the history of Malaysia that he has resigned from the post of Chief Executive, having stepped down when he was 78 years old, in October 2004, after having served as Prime Minister under the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration for 22 years.

Dr Mahathir emerged after 15 years from his retirement in 2018 to run for the premiership and won over then-Prime Minister Najib Razak. Dr Mahathir’s party, PPBM, also confirmed today that it was leading the PH coalition. /TISG