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Joseph Sipalan

Two-time former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad was admitted to hospital on Tuesday to treat a fracture in his right hip after suffering from a fall in his home in Kuala Lumpur, his aide said.
The centenarian fell around 7.30am while walking from the balcony to his living room, after which he was rushed to the National Heart Institute.
“Tun is expected to be admitted for the next few weeks for treatment and observation,” Mahathir’s long-time press secretary Sufi Yusoff told the media, using the former leader’s honorific.
Sufi said earlier in the day that Mahathir was conscious while he was transferred by ambulance to the hospital.
Mahathir has been hospitalised at least twice over the past two years.
He was last admitted to the National Heart Institute for fatigue in July last year after attending a picnic to celebrate his 100th birthday. Before that, he was hospitalised in October 2024 for a respiratory infection.
Mahathir has had a history of heart problems and undergone two bypass surgeries in 1989 and in 2007.
Known for his plucky demeanour, Mahathir has been a constant fixture in Malaysian politics.
While he currently holds no party affiliation, he has maintained an active role in attempting to unite opposition forces to challenge his former protege turned arch-rival, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

The storied feud between the two had shaped the country’s politics over the past two decades, as Mahathir’s Malay nationalist posturing clashed with Anwar’s reformist agenda – a conflict that has deepened racial schisms in multicultural Malaysia.
Mahathir holds the record as the country’s longest-serving prime minister, having completed 22 years during his first term from 1981 to 2003, a period saddled with numerous allegations of corruption and abuse of power under his watch.
It was towards the end of Mahathir’s first term when Anwar was jailed on charges of corruption and sodomy, after a clash between the two over how to manage the country’s exit from the Asian Financial Crisis.
Mahathir returned as prime minister in 2018, striking a brief truce with Anwar to lead the then-opposition Pakatan Harapan coalition to a shock victory over the long-ruling Umno party.
His second term was cut short by a political coup in 2020 by leaders of his then-party Bersatu and from Anwar’s People’s Justice Party.
Mahathir attempted a political comeback in the 2022 general election, but failed to defend his stronghold seat on the holiday island of Langkawi.
Despite the setbacks, Mahathir has never left the political scene.

A shrewd operator, he capitalised on the broad reach of social media to post regular critiques of Anwar, Israel and the US – his favoured targets – maintaining a link to his legions of followers and building his profile among the younger generation.
Outside politics, Mahathir was well-known for his work ethic. Former aides have said he would be the first to arrive at the office and the last to leave, a habit which has been widely credited as the answer to his longevity.
Mahathir, a former doctor, has also advised to “eat and stop before you get full”, which he said had helped maintain his svelte 62kg weight over the past four decades.


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Mahathir, 100, fell when he was walking from the balcony to his living room in his home in Kuala Lumpur


Mahathir, 100, fell when he was walking from the balcony to his living room in his home in Kuala Lumpur.


Malaysia’s ex-PM Mahathir in hospital after a fall at home – ‘he was conscious’

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Mahathir, 100, fell when he was walking from the balcony to his living room in his home in Kuala Lumpur

Mahathir, 100, fell when he was walking from the balcony to his living room in his home in Kuala Lumpur