And as if to join in the excitement, a light rain started which soon developed into a relentless downpour.
Pakatan Harapan (PH) president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who made the announcement at Padang Matsirat on Sunday night, spoke of the close links between the former prime minister and the isle of legends, hailing him as the man behind its transformation from barrenness to fecundity.
The island indeed consisted only of small farms and a single fishing village before Mahathir initiated the changes that turned it into what it is today: a bustling tourist hub that attracted more than two million Malaysian and foreign holiday makers last year alone.
Wan Azizah said this fact was not lost on the folk living on the island, now often referred to as the Jewel of Kedah.
Legend has it that the island, which is one of 104 in the Andaman Sea, was cursed by a local beauty named Mahsuri, who was falsely accused of adultery and executed. And many Mahathir admirers with a romantic mien like to see him as the man who finally broke the curse.
The PH chairman has had a long love affair with Langkawi, being the first government doctor to be stationed on the island in the 1950s.
“He was determined to help the marginalised island,” Wan Azizah said. “As soon as he became prime minister, he immediately thought of ways to uplift its status.
“With an airport, hospital, school and roads, as well as the rapid development of both urban and rural areas, Mahathir successfully placed Langkawi on the world map.”
The development of Langkawi kicked off in 1987 when Mahathir, six years into his tenure as prime minister, established the Langkawi Development Board and declared the island a duty-free zone. The Kuah jetty and the Langkawi International Airport were built a year afterwards.
It was Mahathir, too, who started the Langkawi Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition in 1991, the Le Tour De Langkawi in 1996 and the Royal Langkawi International Regatta in 2003.
Now that he has returned to the political arena, it is perhaps apt that he has chosen Langkawi as his home base.
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