KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama): Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the Pakatan Harapan-led government spent a good part of its first year in power to plug the "almost bottomless pit" created by state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd.

The Prime Minister said the Pakatan coalition was formed to save Malaysia from a kleptocratic government that allegedly siphoned and squandered tens of billions of ringgit from the people, and against all odds won the mandate from the people at the general election on May 9 last year.

"It was a very important election as it was an opportunity to bring an end to a corrupt government. Now we are no longer known as a nation of kleptocracy.

"I cannot imagine the disaster the nation would have been in if the majority of Malaysians did not rise to the occasion. We averted the financial disaster waiting to happen if the 'Ponzi scheme' to cover the 1MDB hole was not discovered and reversed," he said in his keynote address before launching Invest Malaysia 2019, here on Tuesday (March 19).

Dr Mahathir, who is also Pakatan chairman, said that in the 10 months of its administration, the government was fully aware of the feelings of the people on the ground. – Bernama