“It would have been better if we didn’t help them and let them close their businesses, suffer losses, fail and close shop.

“This way, all their employees, rich or otherwise, could have lost their jobs,” he said in a blog post.

Mahathir, whose first stint as prime minister stretched from 1981 to 2003, said exports would then have dropped and there would be no foreign funds flowing into the country.

“The government would have lost out on corporate and income taxes because a large part of these is paid by tycoons.”

Because of this lost revenue, he added, the government would not have been able to operate and develop the country, and would have been forced to tax those who are not tycoons, resulting in such people becoming poor.

Decades ago, he said, tycoons in some countries were murdered and their property confiscated and taken over by rulers in the hope that the government would reap all their profits.

“So if we wanted, we could have chased out all the tycoons. Don’t help them, let them go bankrupt – we will only help non-tycoons.

“But how would we help those who are not tycoons after all the tycoons cannot pay taxes? That is the question,” he added.

“I apologise for my actions in overcoming the 1997-1998 financial crisis, which benefited tycoons.”