Thousands of Malaysians thronged the open house by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad at Seri Perdana in Putrajaya today, in conjunction with Hari Raya Aidilfitri.
Many were hoping to catch a glimpse of Mahathir at the event, the latter's first open house since returning to the premiership after a 15-year absence.
A long queue almost immediately formed outside the official residence, where tents were set up so that members of the public could shake hands with Malaysia's eight prime minister and members of his Cabinet.
Previously, the meet and greet sessions were only held inside the house.
The large size of the crowd forced the emcee of the event to bar members of the public from taking selfies with Mahathir and the cabinet members, so to ensure the line went by smoothly without many holdups.
As at the 10.40am, an official source placed the number of attendees at 10,000, while it was learnt that the government had prepared food enough to serve up to 50,000.
Malaysiakini observed that non-Malays made up almost half of those attending, in contrast to previous open houses held by ousted prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, which attracted a predominantly Malay crowd.
Chan Huei Chuen, a 40-year-old housewife, had brought along her three children as she was keen for them to meet with the respected prime minister.
"I want them to know (politics). I respect Dr Mahathir and I want my children to meet him (now, as) he's already 92-year-old," she told Malaysiakini.
Mahathir will be live streaming a press conference media later today.
[More to follow] -Mkini
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