Mahathir to defend Langkawi seat at Malaysia election, but no plans to become PM again
Tan Ai Leng
MALAYSIA’s former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has confirmed that he will defend his Langkawi parliamentary seat at the next general election, although he stressed that he has no intentions of becoming the next prime minister.
The 97-year-old chairman of Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang), who was the country’s fourth and seventh prime minister, told the media at a press conference on Tuesday (Oct 11) that he is not the prime minister candidate. The opposition lawmaker added, however, that “a prime minister candidate will only be relevant if we win (the election)“.
His comments came a day after Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced the dissolution of Parliament, which triggered a snap election that must be held within the next 60 days. T
The Election Commission said on Tuesday that it will meet on Oct 20 to finalise the election dates, with widespread speculation that Polling Day could be held in the first half of November before the monsoon season starts. The online applications for postal voting is now open.
Dr Mahathir warned that if United Malays National Organisation (Umno) were to win the election, the ruling party would likely move quickly to free former prime minister Najib Razak from prison via a royal pardon, and attempt to drop all his other corruption charges too.
“Should (Umno) be able to win and form the government, that is the first objective, not about the welfare of the people,” said Dr Mahathir, who also said that Perjuang will contest in at least 120 out of the 222 available seats.
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After a rocky last four years that have seen three different prime ministers, political observers and the business community say that Malaysians in general are hoping for a stable government and a visionary leader who can take the country forward after the polls.
Malaysia Semiconductor Industry Association president Wong Siew Hai hopes that the coming election can finally end the political infighting, and that a new government could focus on growing the economy.
“Malaysia needs to move on. With the anticipation of a potential recession next year, we need a stable and efficient government as well as a strong leader to move the economy and plan for uncertainties ahead,” he told The Business Times.
The political uncertainty in recent years has affected the country greatly as many of the government’s policies are not planned properly in order to ensure sustainable growth, and this in turn has affected Malaysia’s competitiveness globally, he said.
In a note on Tuesday, MIDF Research said the formation of a new government is crucial to restore confidence and stability in local politics and ensure the continuity of long term economic policy.
“We expect the new government will continue to focus on providing support to the people and local business, and ensuring a sustainable growth amid concerns over the global slowdown,” said MIDF.
Malaysia’s stocks and the ringgit trended down the day after news broke that Parliament was dissolved. The benchmark KLCI index slid 1.36 per cent to 1386.82 points as trading resumed on Tuesday after a public holiday. The ringgit was trading at RM4.66 against the US dollar, and it has depreciated by over 11 per cent in the year-to-date.
CGS-CIMB Securities’ head of Malaysia research Ivy Ng advised investors to stay defensive in view of the election uncertainty and concerns over a global recession.
“The construction and property sectors could potentially benefit in the medium term, with the return of the Barisan Nasional government. Other beneficiaries include related assets like telco and utilities from policy clarity,” she said in a report.
However, she noted that if no coalition or party has a majority after the general election, resulting in a hung parliament and inability to pass Budget 2023, this could lead to a sell-down in the KLCI.
The KLCI has fallen 23 per cent since the last general election in May 2018 due to concerns over political instability leading to foreign selling.
In a separate report on Tuesday, RHB Investment Bank noted that the latest political development will add to short-term volatility as investor sentiment remains risk-off.
“Market strategy should remain centred on a defensive posture and maintaining sufficient liquidity to take advantage of market weakness. Investors need to look for opportunities to build positions for the medium term,” the bank said.
On the ringgit’s movement, MUFG Bank’s senior currency analyst of global markets research Jeff Ng is hoping to see an election outcome that can provide a clearer outlook of Malaysian government initiatives in the coming five years, which will likely be ringgit-positive.
“We are fairly optimistic of the ringgit movement for the year ahead, discounting dollar strength, our end-2022 forecast for ringgit is RM4.75 against the US dollar, the forecast is based on dollar strength,” he said in a research note on Oct 11.
Against the Singapore dollar, he forecasts the conversion rate for the ringgit to be at RM3.23 by the end of the year, and be at around RM3.18 by the third quarter of 2023.
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