“That’s why when I give talks and speeches, a lot of Malays come. Because they like seeing their enemy,” said the former prime minister in an interview with FMT at his office here.
Mahathir’s teaming up with opposition parties such as DAP had led to an Umno leader declaring him the “main enemy” of the Malays.
Umno Youth vice-chief Khairul Azwan Harun also said the former Umno strongman was now going all out to destroy the party he once led.
Mahathir, now the chairman of the four-party Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, said if there was truth in the claim that he was the enemy of Malays, they would not come in droves to listen to him.
“Like the ceramah I gave in Ipoh a few days ago. Thousands came, they were mostly Malays. Did they come to see their enemy?” he asked, adding that the crowd had stayed past midnight.
“So that means this enemy of the Malays is very popular among the Malays. That’s very funny,” he said.
Mahathir quit Umno last year to form PPBM after declaring Prime Minister Najib Razak unfit to rule following the 1MDB controversy.