Marcos Jr. congratulates new Malaysian PM Anwar

FILE PHOTO: President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim | PHOTOS: Office of the President of the Philippines / Mohd Rasfan via REUTERS

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday congratulated his “good friend” Anwar Ibrahim on his election as Malaysia’s 10th prime minister, saying Anwar’s leadership will bring stability to Malaysia.

The 75-year-old Anwar, a longtime opposition leader in Malaysia, was sworn in as the new prime minister on Thursday.

“I would like to congratulate my good friend Anwar Ibrahim on his election as prime minister of Malaysia. I look forward to the stability that his leadership will provide Malaysia and the region. My personal and official congratulations,” the president said in a statement on Friday.

In 2018, Anwar met with Marcos when he was in the country to speak at the Management Association of the Philippines’ International CEO Conference.

On Friday, the president called Anwar and told the new premier that “they both waited for a very, very long time to get into the position,” Malacañang quoted Marcos as saying.

“I just wanted to immediately be one of the first to congratulate you, because I’m very happy to hear the news. I was very happy to hear the news and I wanted to congratulate you immediately myself,” the president said.

He added: “I am sure this will make Malaysia and the Philippines even closer because we will be in touch with another.”

On his Twitter account, Anwar thanked the president for the call, saying: “As founding fathers of Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), our two nations have always enjoyed strong cooperation in bilateral, regional and multilateral forums.”

Call for partnership

Marcos said the strong partnership between the Philippines and Malaysia was important because of all the problems that the two nations were facing.

Anwar’s appointment as the 10th prime minister of Malaysia ended several days of political impasse.

A general election on Saturday ended in an unprecedented hung parliament with neither of two main alliances, one led by Anwar and the other ex-premier Muhyiddin Yassin, immediately able to secure enough seats in parliament to form a government.

Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan won the most seats with 82, while Muhyiddin’s Perikatan Nasional bloc won 73. They need 112—a simple majority— to form a government.

Malaysia’s king then named Anwar as prime minister on Thursday and he was sworn in the same day.

Anwar has time and again been denied the premiership despite getting within striking distance over the years: he was deputy prime minister in the 1990s and the official prime minister in waiting in 2018.

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Marcos congratulates ‘good friend’ Anwar for being elected as Malaysia’s PM