Son of Malaysia's former PM Mahathir resigns as state chief after losing party support

Mukhriz Mahathir, a Malaysian politician and son of the influential former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, resigned as a state chief on Wednesday after losing support of the ruling party.

Mukhriz, 51, announced his resignation as the chief minister of the norther Kedah state, saying his was informed that he had lost the majority support in the state legislation, according to state news agency Bernama.

Mukhriz have been in a peculiar position since his father Mahathir, who had served as Malaysia's prime minister for 22 years, broke up with incumbent Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Mahathir has called on Najib to step down over controversies related to the debt-laden state investment company 1MDB, whose advisory board chaired by Najib, as well as allegations that tens of millions of U.S. dollars went into the prime minister's personal accounts.

Najib has denied any wrongdoing, which was confirmed by the Malaysia's Attorney General following investigation by the state anti-corruption body.

Both Najib and Mukhriz are members of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), which leads a coalition in governing Malaysia since independence in 1957. Leaders of the UMNO Kedah branch challenged Mukhriz by declaring they lost confidence in the chief minister last month.

Mukhriz refused to back down at first, but decided to resign following intervention of the state palace. He insisted that he was forced out for criticizing Najib, according to a local news portal.

However, the prime minister played down his role in the episode. His office said Mukhriz had to resign "because he lost the support of the majority of his state assemblymen."

"This was due to a lack of confidence in his leadership, both as chief minister and state party leader, and concerns that better preparations were needed to retain Kedah in the 14th General Election," the Prime Minister's Office said. Enditem