Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has extended his congratulations to newly-sworn in Malaysian Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad.

PM Lee wrote on Facebook that he wished "Tun Mahathir and his team every success, and hope to catch up with him in person soon".

This is PM Lee's post in full, which shared a Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement:

The full Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement read:

The Singapore Government congratulates the new Prime Minister of Malaysia Tun Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad and Pakatan Harapan on the outcome of the General Election yesterday. The people of Malaysia have given the new Government a clear mandate to lead the country. Malaysia is Singapore’s nearest neighbour and a vital partner. We have had close relations and extensive cooperation with successive Malaysian governments, including the government of Tun Mahathir when he was previously Prime Minister. We look forward to cooperating with Tun Mahathir and the new Government of Malaysia to further strengthen and deepen bilateral ties, for the benefit of both our peoples.

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More introspective messages earlier

This hearty message follows a more introspective post earlier in the day, where PM Lee said his team was "following the situation closely", referring to the Malaysian election ousting of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition.

Singapore's leaders, in general, shared messages in a similar vein.

The only exception is Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, who cheekily wrote:

"Watching Mahathir fight Malaysian GE14 reminds me of Lee Kuan Yew who famously said, 'Even from my sick bed, even if you are going to lower me into the grave and I feel something is going wrong, I will get up'." he said.