This, he explained, was visible from the fact that despite the countless number of existing opposition parties, Mahathir still had to form his own new political outfit, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM).

He said this was also the reason for the poor turnout at last Saturday’s Bersih 5 gathering as the public already knew that the 91-year-old was going to use the platform to further his own personal interests.

“While to the opposition it seemed like God’s gift that Mahathir is now attacking us, the government, they are not prepared to accept him,” said Nazri in an interview with FMT today.

“So as he is a liability (to the opposition pact), when he attended the rally, I believe the opposition too was unhappy because, well, Mahathir is a swear word.

“But he decided to join, and even came dressed in the Bersih T-shirt. People laughed (at it) as his presence is more of a comedy, a joke, rather than to enhance their struggles.

“So that’s why I think the number of those who turned up at the rally was not what the organisers expected.”

According to the figures provided by the police, only around 15,500 people attended the Bersih 5 rally which demanded, among others, institutional reform and Prime Minister Najib Razak’s resignation.

Bersih 2.0’s former chairman S Ambiga, on the other hand, claimed that more than 100,000 people had come down to Kuala Lumpur to participate in the yellow movement.

In response to Mahathir’s insistence that the only reason BN leaders preferred to think the rally was a failure was because they could not count past 1,000, Nazri said:

“Since when does his opinion count? It doesn’t count any more. People just laugh it off as coming from a senile old man.

“For almost two years, he tried to bring Najib down. But Umno members as well as the public refused to believe him and Najib is still here as the prime minister.

“Time is not on his side and that is why he is so desperate.”