Dr M gets right down to work

PUTRAJAYA: It is back to work for Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who is now helming the government as interim Prime Minister.

Dr Mahathir arrived at his office located on the main block of the Putra Perdana building at 9.29am.

The media had been waiting for him at his office since Monday amidst political storm which saw Dr Mahathir resigning as prime minister.

The Yang di-Pertuan Agong, who accepted Dr Mahathir’s resignation, had consented for him to be the interim prime minister until his successor is appointed and a new Cabinet is formed.

Dr Mahathir shared photographs of him in the office on his Instagram, Twitter and Facebook accounts, with the caption “just another day in office”.

On the west side of the building, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail bade farewell to her staff as she ceased to be the deputy prime minister.

She arrived at the Putra Perdana building at 10.25am and went straight to the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office located on the fourth floor.

Dr Wan Azizah shook hands with her staff as they said goodbye to the woman who was their boss for 22 months.

Packing up: Dr Wan Azizah meeting the ministry staff for the last time in Putrajaya. — Photo by Mohamad Khusaini Abdul Manan, courtesy of Women, Family and Community Development Ministry.

She later went to the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry where she also served as minister.

She spent some time chatting with them, bade farewell and obliged to requests for photographs from ministry staff.

Dr Wan Azizah and all Cabinet ministers had their appointment cancelled by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on Monday after Dr Mahathir resigned as prime minister.

Dr Wan Azizah, 68, became the nation’s first female deputy prime minister when Pakatan Harapan formed the government after the 14th General Election on May 9,2018.

The ophthalmologist, who graduated from the Royal College of Surgeon in Ireland, entered politics and led a newly-established political party PKR after her husband Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was jailed.

She entered her first election in the 1999 polls and won the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat, formerly held by Anwar.

Dr Wan Azizah is currently Pandan MP.

Elsewhere in the federal administrative capital, offices of ministers and deputy ministers were being vacated.

It is learnt that officers to ministers began packing belongings of their bosses on Monday night after the Yang di-Pertuan Agong accepted Dr Mahathir’s resignation.

Officers to former Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin were seen taking boxes out of the ministry.

Aides to former Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkely Ahmad spent the day packing his personal belongings and clearing the office.