Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad resigns

On February 24, 2020, the Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad resigned over political issues.

Highlights

The 94-year old Mahathir tried to form a coalition. This move would exclude his successor Anwar Ibrahim. This led to a tussle in the party and eventually the leader resigned. However, he will act as an interim PM.

India and Mahathir

Mr Mahathir was known for his comments on India’s Abrogation of Article 370. At the United Nations General Assembly that was held in September 2019, he commented that India “invaded, occupied” Kashmir. Following this, India slowly stopped importing Palm oil from Malaysia. This hit Malaysian Palm oil market greatly.

Alternately, India is to import Palm oil from Bangladesh.

India-Malaysia

Malaysia is the 19^th largest investor of India. There are more than 150,000 Indians living in Malaysia. Following Palm oil, India is to impose curbs over other imports from Malaysia such as micro-processors, telecom products, aluminium ingots, aluminum wire, etc.

Month: Current Affairs - February, 2020