Malaysia’s Mahathir Mohamad in hospital for cough after London trip

Mahathir has been warded at the National Heart Institute (IJN) in Kuala Lumpur since Monday and is expected to remain in hospital for a few days.

“He is being treated for cough but I am not able to go beyond that without official medical statement at the moment,” his aide told the media on Thursday in a WhatsApp message.

Mahathir was in London last week, where he had been invited as a keynote speaker at a conference with the city’s top Muslim leaders.

This is the second time that Mahathir, who turned 99 on July 10, has been admitted to hospital this year.

He was discharged from IJN in mid-March after being warded there for more than two months to treat an unspecified infection.

Mahathir has had a history of cardiac problems, having suffered three heart attacks before undergoing quadruple bypass surgery in 2007.

The former leader was the country’s longest-serving prime minister, holding the post for 22 years during his first stint in power from 1981 to 2003.

More than a decade later, he came out of political retirement to lead the opposition to an unprecedented victory in the 2018 national polls and returned to the premiership for a second 22-month term at the age of 93.

The former leader has denied any wrongdoing, alleging that he is the target of political persecution by Anwar.

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A multiracial Malaysia would be unconstitutional, says former PM Mahathir

Critics have long accused Mahathir of corruption and abuses of power during his first 22-year term in high office.

More than 100 people were detained without trial under the colonial era Internal Security Act in 1987, when his administration launched the Ops Lalang crackdown on members of the opposition, civil society groups and journalists, ostensibly to prevent a rise in racial