Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has congratulated Indonesia President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo on his election success.

Although polls after the election on April 17 indicated that Jokowi had a commanding lead, he was only officially declared the winner on May 21 by the General Elections Commission.

Mahathir tweeted his congratulations on May 21, along with a picture of him on the telephone.

He said (translated):

"I congratulate Mr Jokowi on his official victory as President of the Republic of Indonesia.

I hope that the cooperation between the two countries will be enhanced after this."

Saya ucap tahniah kepada Bapak @jokowi atas kemenangan secara rasmi sebagai Presiden Republik Indonesia. Saya berharap kerjasama antara dua negara akan semakin erat selepas ini. pic.twitter.com/EWJ7CyAhqX

— Dr Mahathir Mohamad (@chedetofficial) May 21, 2019

Jokowi replied with a tweet of his own, saying:

"Thank you Dr M @chedetofficial. Indonesia and Malaysia both have the same roots. Until whenever, we will still be brothers and work closely together."

Terima kasih Dr M @chedetofficial. Indonesia dan Malaysia adalah dua bangsa serumpun. Sampai kapan pun tetap bersaudara dan bekerja sama dengan erat. https://t.co/qy1sekoTOA

— Joko Widodo (@jokowi) May 23, 2019

Despite the bloody history between the two countries, Mahathir and Jokowi appear to have warm personal relations.

When Mahathir won his own election in 2018, Indonesia was the second country he visited -- and the first Southeast Asian country.

He had good things to say about Indonesia back then as well, commenting that Indonesia was Malaysia's "closest neighbour" and that the two countries had a "family relationship".

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Top image from Jokowi's Facebook page.