The Guardian view on the Malaysian election: a second chance to put things right

(The Guardian) – Modern Malaysia’s founding father should clean out the stables of sleaze in his country – but he will have to give up power to do so

Second acts in politics are not unknown. But the rise, fall and rise again of Mahathir Mohamad, the father of modern Malaysia, is a rare story where a historic figure gets a chance to right the wrongs that he was responsible for. Dr Mahathir is Malaysia’s new prime minister and – at 92 – the world’s oldest leader. He won by defeating the party he led for over two decades, ending the career of his former protege Najib Razak. This is an electoral earthquake: the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) has run Malaysia since its independence 61 years ago. The opposition that Dr Mahathir now leads was originally formed to oppose his own autocratic rule. Yet Dr Mahathir will take power, he says, only to give it away: handing over to a former apprentice who he saw jailed on trumped-up charges after the pair fell out and remains behind bars, as well as reversing draconian laws designed to shackle journalists who had exposed corruption.