Zuraidah Ibrahim, Senior Editor at South China Morning Post, recently tweeted about Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, saying, “#Malaysia – When you’re 92 and you drive yourself around in Kuala Lumpur to check things out, you’re da boss. @chedetofficial”
#Malaysia – When you’re 92 and you drive yourself around in Kuala Lumpur to check things out, you’re da boss. @chedetofficial https://t.co/oEQ3GOPOV2
— Zuraidah Ibrahim (@zuibrahim) May 20, 2018
Ms. Ibrahim wrote this as a comment accompanying a re-tweet of a video from Malaysian writer Firdaus Abdullah. Mr. Abdullah posted a video of Dr. Mahathir on Saturday, May 19, taking a Ramadan drive around the streets of Kuala Lumpur.
Mr. Abdullah’s caption to the video said:
Perdana Menteri Malaysia YAB Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad @chedetofficial memandu sendiri memantau perkembangan terkini disekitar Kuala Lumpur pagi tadi. Ada yang bertanya dimana Dr Mahathir mendapat tenaga melimpah ruah pada umur 93 tahun? Semoga Tuhan terus memelihara negarawan
(Prime Minister of Malaysia YAB Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad @chedetofficial drives himself to monitor the latest developments around Kuala Lumpur this morning. Some have asked where Dr Mahathir gets the power of over 93 years of age? May God keep the statesman ??)
A commenter on Ms. Ibrahim’s post noted how social media savvy Dr. Mahathir has become. On Mr. Abdullah’s original post, many were admiring not only of the fact that the elder statesman was driving himself around, but that the vehicle he was driving was a locally produced car, the Proton Perdana.
Others expressed concern for the safety of Dr. Mahathir, noting that he was driving quite speedily in an urban area, and he seemed to be alone in the car. Though it was highly likely that he had a police escort with him. Many wished prayers and blessings for good health and long life for the leader.
The original tweet certainly seemed to be a social media coup for the Malaysian Prime Minister, having been retweeted over 10,500 times and receiving more than 16,500 likes since it was posted on Saturday.
Ms. Ibrahim is the sister of MP Yacob Ibrahim of the People’s Action Party. Mr. Ibrahim is a former Minister for Communications and Information, Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs and Minister in charge of Cyber Security.