PUTRAJAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK, REUTERS) - Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad returned to work on Tuesday (Feb 25), a day after shocking the nation by resigning as Prime Minister.
The vehicle ferrying him was seen approaching the protocol gate at Perdana Putra at 9.29am.
The Yang di-Pertuan Agong accepted his resignation on Monday but allowed Dr Mahathir to continue running the country as interim prime minister until a new premier has been appointed and a new Cabinet formed.
Dr Mahathir is the only one from the Pakatan Harapan administration who is left after the Yang di-Pertuan Agong cancelled the appointments of all Cabinet members.
Aside from ministers, the duties of other members of the administration, including the deputy prime minister, deputy ministers and political secretaries, ceased, effective Monday.
It is learnt that ministers packed their belongings and left with them on Monday night, following the announcement that the King had accepted Dr Mahathir's resignation.
His resignation broke apart an already fragile coalition with old rivals including Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, 72, that had scored a surprise election victory on an anti-corruption platform in 2018 but has since become increasingly unpopular.
It was not immediately clear how long Dr Mahathir would remain in the interim role, when a new Cabinet would be appointed or how the next government would be formed.
"For Malaysians, the trauma of uncertainty is hard to overstate," the pro-establishment New Straits Times newspaper wrote in an editorial.
The political crisis comes at a particularly bad time for the Malaysian economy, after growth fell to a decade low in the final quarter of last year. Dr Mahathir had been scheduled to announce a stimulus package to deal with the coronavirus outbreak on Thursday.
The resignation left in doubt the pre-election promise Dr Mahathir had made to Mr Anwar that he would cede power before his five-year term ended in 2023.
It followed a sudden burst of political wrangling at the weekend, when some of Dr Mahathir's allies were accused of plotting with the former ruling party to form a new government that would exclude Mr Anwar.
Dr Mahathir, who had not set a date for handing over power, had appeared irritated that Mr Anwar's backers were demanding a clear timetable.
Attorney General Tommy Thomas told reporters there was no time limit for how long someone can stay on as interim leader, and that person has all the powers of a full-time premier including that of appointing his own Cabinet.
Constitutionally, any lawmaker who can command a majority in Parliament can stake a claim to form the government. The king then has to give his assent before a premier can be sworn in.
The leadership of the Pakatan Harapan coalition formed by Dr Mahathir and Mr Anwar ahead of the 2018 election was scheduled to meet later on Tuesday. It was not clear if Dr Mahathir would attend the meeting, though Mr Anwar is expected to.
A showdown is also possible between Mr Anwar and an alliance of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia president Muhyiddin Yassin and Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, who on Monday was sacked from Mr Anwar's party, political sources said.
Others have called for Dr Mahathir to be re-nominated as premier.
Malaysia's stock market recovered slightly on Tuesday after falling to an eight-year low on Monday while the currency also rose after hitting a near six-month low.
