Winding down his 22-year rule, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad bid farewell to his closest colleagues yesterday at an emotional Cabinet meeting -- his last before he retires at week's end.
Some ministers wept as incoming leader Abdullah Ahmad Badawi led tributes to Mahathir during the meeting, though the veteran leader remained composed, Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said.
Mahathir, chairing the 883rd meeting of his Cabinet since he came to power in 1981, initially didn't make any concessions to its historical significance, asking for updates on government policy.
PHOTO: AP
But with the business of the day finished, Abdullah made a short speech thanking Mahathir.
"Then there was total silence. Some of us shed tears," Syed Hamid said.
Mahathir, who formally stands down tomorrow, thanked his ministers for their support and asked them to give his successor the same.
The meeting broke up with a snapshot session and ministers seeking Mahathir's autograph.
The meeting was held inside the prime minister's palatial offices at Malaysia's gleaming purpose-built administrative capital, Putrajaya.
Cabinet staff earlier presented Mahathir with a framed piece of fabric with the "883" hand-woven into it, the national news agency Bernama reported.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese