SINGAPORE: Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced in Parliament today that he will visit Malaysia on Saturday to meet his new Malaysian counterpart Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Dr Mahathir, 92, chairman of the Pakatan Harapan coalition which won the Malaysian general election on May 9, was sworn in as Malaysia’s seventh prime minister, thus becoming the oldest prime minister in the world.
“The expectations of the new Malaysian government are very high, and I think Dr Mahathir will be very busy in the days to come.
But I plan to visit him on Saturday, and tell him I look forward to working with him again for mutual benefit,” Lee was quoted as saying by Channel NewsAsia during the debate on the President’s Address.
He said he was on familiar terms with PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
“I also know Anwar Ibrahim well because he was my counterpart when I was deputy prime minister,” Lee said.
Anwar was released today after three years in prison following a full pardon from the Malaysian King.
Touching on the external challenges facing Singapore in his speech to the House, Lee said Singapore had always had good relations with its “closest neighbour” Malaysia under the governments led by former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak as well as the administration headed by Dr Mahathir before that.
“We have also worked with Dr Mahathir and several of his teams before. We completed joint projects with Malaysia when Dr Mahathir was last the prime minister, including building the Second Link at Tuas,” he said. -- Bernama