Anwar to get royal pardon

Malaysia's newly-elected Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday that the country's monarch has indicated he was willing to grant a full royal pardon to jailed politician Anwar Ibrahim immediately.

The Southeast Asian nation's political landscape has been shaped for decades by a bitter feud between Anwar and Mahathir, whose decision to sack Anwar as his deputy sparked an opposition movement, Reformasi, or Reform, in 1998.

But in 2016, Mahathir abandoned the long-ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, and joined Anwar's opposition alliance to fight against scandal-hit former premier Najib Razak.

"It is going to be a full pardon, which means not only pardoned, but he is released immediately and after that he will be free to participate fully in politics," Mahathir told reporters a day after he was sworn to office following his alliance's shock win in Wednesday's election.

At 92, he is the world's oldest elected leader.

Mahathir said the king indicated he was willing to pardon Anwar immediately. A full pardon by the king would mean Anwar can return to active politics.

Reporters and Anwar supporters gathered outside a hospital in Kuala Lumpur where he is recovering from a shoulder surgery. His wife, who visited Anwar in hospital, later told reporters he could be freed in days and pardoned within a week.

Anwar, 70, was due to be released on June 8 with time taken off his sentence for good behaviour. He began a five-year sentence for sodomy in 2015, a charge he and his supporters say was politically motivated.

Mahathir also vowed to reassure financial markets and return billions of dollars lost in a graft scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), which was a major factor in the election and in the ouster of Najib, Mahathir's predecessor and former protege.

The new prime minister said the country's attorney general was wrong to clear Najib in the 1MDB probe in 2016.

"He, in fact, has hidden evidence of wrongdoing, and that is wrong in law. We have to do what is permitted by the laws of this country," Mahathir said.