KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 — Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who met his new Malaysian counterpart Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in Putrajaya today, also had a meeting with his designated successor, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Anwar was accompanied to the meeting by his wife, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who is the new Malaysian deputy prime minister. Prior to meeting the couple in a downtown hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Lee met Dr Mahathir at the Perdana Leadership Foundation in Putrajaya.

Lee said in Parliament on Wednesday that he knew Anwar well as they were both previously deputy prime ministers at the same time.

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Anwar was Malaysia’s deputy prime minister from December 1993 to September 1998, while Lee served as Singapore’s deputy prime minister from November 1990 to August 2003.

Anwar, who is touted to be Dr Mahathir’s successor in a year or two, regained his freedom and was given a full royal pardon on Wednesday after serving a jail term for sodomy on what he called politically motivated charges.

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He has said he was in no hurry to take over from the 92-year-old Dr Mahathir, and fully supported the latter’s reform agenda. — TODAY