KUALA LUMPUR (May 10): The 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) issues have affected Malaysia’s reputation and the citizens have also voted against it, Datuk Seri Nazir Razak told Bloomberg in an interview today.

“I think the big noisy element was the 1MDB crisis and on hindsight, 1MDB has led to a lot of other things. There were second and third order effect of 1MDB. Given the incongruence treatment of the 1MDB issue at home and abroad, of course that has affected Malaysia’s reputation.

“The Rakyat has also voted against that,” Nazir said, pointing to an opportunity to reset the narrative with the change of government.

On the 14th general election (GE14), Nazir, who is the younger brother of ousted prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, said that the people have voted loudly and clearly for a change in the government.

While he believes there will be some nervousness over the change, Nazir expects to see a full transition in political leadership in accordance to what the people want, pointing to the combination of experience and young, energetic new ideas in the new government under Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Parti Warisan Sabah.

He also said that despite the difficulty to manage four different parties under PH and Parti Warisan Sabah, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad will be able to manage it.

“He (Mahathir) has made a habit of exceeding expectation,” Nazir said.