Tun Mahathir hopes PH's good policies won't be dropped

"I ask that if possible, the (new) Cabinet do not discard good policies that we (PH government) introduced, for example the Shared Prosperity Vision.

"Some of the people who came up with this policy are also in the (new) Cabinet), don't drop it,” he said in an interview with Sinar Harian published today.

Dr Mahathir said he also hoped that the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics and Science in English (PPSMI) policy will be reintroduced in schools so that the country is not left behind in these two important fields.

He said science and mathematics were not fields of study that were static but ever evolving with new discoveries and applications.

"So if in Malay, when a paper comes up about a new application, digitalisation, artificial intelligence or others, we will not be able to understand it. We have to get someone to translate.

"The translator must have the knowledge and be proficient in Malay and English, and scientific English is not like your normal English… so to translate into Malay is an arduous task. This means we will be left behind while science advances rapidly,” he added.

The 94-year-old statesmen said his preference for PPSMI was not because he did not love Bahasa Melayu and further stressed that this was attested to by the fact that he was a champion of the national language.

"In 1945, 1946 (when Malaysia was a British colony) , I had fought for Bahasa Melayu (to be the national language) but I gave greater priority to knowledge. If we are left behind in terms of knowledge, we will regress,”he said.

Dr Mahathir was appointed as Malaysia's 7th Prime Minister after leading PH which then comprised Bersatu, PKR, DAP and Amanah to victory in the 14th general election held in May 2018.

However, he resigned as prime minister on February 24 after PH lost its majority in Parliament when Bersatu pulled out of the coalition but was appointed interim prime minister by Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah the same day.

Following a week-long political crisis thereafter, Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was appointed as the 8th Prime Minister and took his oath of office before the King on March 1.

Thereafter, Muhyiddin formed a new coalition government called Perikatan Nasional.