IT has been a long time coming for Pakatan Harapan supporters, many of whom had gathered at the Sheraton Hotel in Petaling Jaya today in anticipation of freshly sworn-in Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s address to the nation.

The supporters watched the live-stream of Dr Mahathir’s swearing-in ceremony at Istana Negara on their handphones, as hundreds of pressmen waited in the hotel’s main banquet hall for a news conference tonight.

Cheers erupted when Dr Mahathir signed the final few documents before the Agong.

“I feel like crying,” said 52-year-old Rohayudin Yaacop.

“We have been working behind the scenes since 2015, after The Wall Street Journal exposed Najib Razak,” said the Bersatu volunteer and businessman, who runs the 38,000-member Facebook group Warisan Pemikiran Tun Mahathir.

“The election outcome was no surprise. We knew the people on the ground were not happy. We knew before everyone else.”

Rohayudin, who was a scholarship commerce student in Japan in the late 1980s during Dr Mahathir’s first tenure as prime minister, said he hopes the new government will put in practice open tenders and be more transparent with its finances.

“Free competition is good. It shouldn’t be just Malay v Malay. After a while, you’re not able compete in the open market. I hope we can bring an end to cronyism.”

“I’m just happy he’s back,” said another Bersatu volunteer, Jamani Derimin.

The 54-year-old Muslim-Kadazan from Sabah, who now lives in Ampang, said he had always been confident of a PH victory.

“We were the first to start a grassroots platform urging Najib to step down,” he said, referring to Gabungan Ketua Cawangan Malaysia, one of several precursors to Bersatu before it was formed in late 2016.

However, there were complaints on how Dr Mahathir’s swearing-in was handled.

“I’m not happy that the swearing-in was delayed. Why should it be like that? You’ve left us with a big question mark. The people have given their mandate. You are just delaying the inevitable,” said Jamani, who volunteered for Bersatu’s campaign in the Putrajaya parliamentary seat.

PKR volunteer Rahizan Razali, 49, from Malacca, agreed.

“When Barisan Nasional won the last time, there was no delay. The delay (this time) made me feel very uncomfortable.”

Asked what he hopes to see the new government carry out first, he said: “Get Anwar Ibrahim pardoned. We have a lot of hope for that.” – May 10, 2018.