However, Mahathir said this may not come from the former attorney-general himself, but from those who had knowledge of what had happened then.

“There is a reason for it (why Musa was not prosecuted then). The matter is not fully understood.

“We will see some clarification made, not by the ex-AG himself, but (by those who were in the know) on the actual situation at the time this thing happened,” he said after launching Poh Kong’s Gold Note of Hope at the Perdana Leadership Foundation (PLF) here today.

On whether Gani owes the public an explanation as to why he could not do what he wanted to do, Mahathir said: “Even if he explains, it is not going to help.

“But the other people must explain, for instance, the anti-corruption division (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission), why in those days there was no prosecution,” he said.

Mahathir was asked to comment on questions raised as to why Gani did not prosecute Musa when he was the attorney-general.

Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng had said in a statement that Gani must explain his failure to prosecute Musa over the corruption charges the latter is currently facing in court.

Musa was charged on Monday with 35 counts of corruption for allegedly receiving around US$63.29 million (RM264 million) in bribes involving timber concessions in Sabah.

He allegedly committed the offences between 10 and 14 years ago.

Gani was sacked as AG in 2015 over suspicions that he was part of a conspiracy to take action against the then prime minister Najib Razak over the 1MDB scandal.

On former finance minister Daim Zainuddin calling on the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government to concentrate on delivering its promises to the people and to stop blaming the previous administration, Mahathir said the government’s aim was to restore Malaysia as a country respected by the world.

“That is our aim. The blame game concerns matters of law.”

Mahathir also fielded other questions. The following are his brief replies:

On Zaid Ibrahim’s blog post that all decision makers behind the government are billionaires and tycoons, even though the PH manifesto had promised a welfare state, and that the government will cause the rich to be richer and the poor to be poorer:

“That is his opinion. No I do not agree with everybody. People are free to give their opinions in this country, where we have free speech.

“I do not know (if it is true). Maybe he has evidence. Then he can show evidence, how many billions I have.”

On whether the Budget 2019 for rural folk will be reviewed:

“We will have a supplementary budget after we have determined and carried out the current budget.”

On the government’s stand on the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD):

“We need to consider this, as there are provisions which are not suited to our country”.

On his meeting with PH Muslim ministers and deputy ministers this morning:

“I needed to let them know the country’s history, so that we can all understand our origins, to ensure that we will not do bad things”.