Tengku Sariffuddin Tengku Ahmad argued that this was because Mahathir’s party, PPBM, had only one seat in Parliament compared to its Pakatan Harapan (PH) ally DAP, which had 37.

PPBM’s parliamentary seat is held by Muhyiddin Yassin, who is Pagoh MP.

“Whether Mahathir is being unrealistic or delusional or is just out to fool the public, the fact of the matter is the opposition’s dictator is Lim Kit Siang.

“Mahathir is merely the puppet,” Tengku Sariffuddin said in a brief statement.

Yesterday, Mahathir said his recent appointment as PH chairman made him the “top dog” in the opposition coalition and an equal to Prime Minister Najib Razak who chairs the ruling coalition of Barisan Nasional (BN).

“I am one of the leaders (in PH), and I have been appointed the chairman.

“As the chairman, I will chair the presidential council. So to a certain extent, in Pakatan’s hierarchy, I am the top dog,” the PPBM chairman was reported as saying.

PH last week agreed to appoint Mahathir as the coalition’s chairman. Its leadership line-up also saw Anwar Ibrahim as PH de-facto leader, and PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as the coalition’s president.

While Lim was not named in the line-up, his son Guan Eng was named as one of PH’s deputy presidents.

Tengku Sariffuddin said that while most of the leaders named in the PH line-up were Malays, in truth, it was DAP who was in control.

The assertion that DAP is in control of the opposition coalition is not new.

Two days ago, Umno minister Salleh Said Keruak said DAP would have a say in who would become the prime minister and deputy instead of Mahathir or Anwar, as DAP had the most number of seats compared to the other PH components.