Malaysia prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has been named as one of Time magazine’s 2019 100 most influential people in the world.

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This was following the victory of his Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition on May 9, 2018.

The announcement came out late on Wednesday night, April 17, 2019.

Glowing write-up

Mahathir's profile in Time was written by whistle-blowing site Sarawak Report editor, Clare Rewcastle-Brown.

She described him as a “formidable old warhorse” who had dazzled during the gruelling election campaign.

Each influential person's write-up was written by an equally influential person.

For example, environmentalist and planet-lover Jane Goodall's profile was written by Leonardo DiCaprio.

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Rewcastle-Brown wrote:

You don’t have to be young to fight the power. Take Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, the former Malaysian Prime Minister who came out of retirement last year to lambaste his successor Najib Razak, who is accused of embezzling millions of dollars from the country’s 1MDB development fund. Venting moral outrage, the colloquially called Dr. M swept back to power in a landslide election victory in May 2018 at age 92.

The formidable old warhorse dazzled during a grueling campaign, gathering vast crowds; his reliance on core values united electoral groups, and his age inspired trust in a grand man of politics.

Now 93, Mohamad has committed to hand over power to the former leader of the opposition, Anwar Ibrahim, 71, whom he released from jail days after his victory. For Malaysia, the episode has re-established democracy in a country that almost teetered into totalitarianism.

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Mahathir named alongside world leaders

The Bersatu chairman was listed in the “Leaders” category.

Those in that category included United States president Donald Trump, China president Xi Jinping, Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern and Pope Francis.

Other influential people from entertainment, the arts and opinion leaders included Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Emilia Clarke, and Michelle Obama and Taylor Swift.

You can see the full 100 list here.

Here are two tweets by Time:

See all the 2019 #TIME100 honorees in under a minute — Presented by @Cadillac #KeepRising https://t.co/Bn1xdpAkOR pic.twitter.com/mGODPFEG7u

— TIME (@TIME) April 17, 2019

Introducing the 2019 #TIME100 https://t.co/1WeH62z2pQ pic.twitter.com/iBKrhSl9D0

— TIME (@TIME) April 17, 2019