Mahathir said the current political landscape, characterised by fragmented parties and splinter groups, had weakened the ability of any single party to form a stable government.

“When there is a split, you will become weak. That is what is happening to Umno, which has split into five parties.

“The solid Umno, which ruled for over 70 years, split into five weak parties. When you split into five, your support will also split. None will be strong enough to form a majority,” he said at the launch of Syed Hamid Albar’s book “Idealis”.

Mahathir said the 15th general election had highlighted the dangers of such fragmentation, with no single party able to secure a clear mandate from the voters.

“What we have now is a government that was not chosen by the people. It’s a government that is not liked by the people,” he said.

Mahathir suggested that Malaysia take inspiration from countries like the UK and US, which have two dominant political parties.

“What we should do is have only two parties, like in the US which has the Republicans and Democrats.

“With two parties, the party that wins can form a government,” he said.

Mahathir said moving towards a two-party system was essential to ensure a stable government that reflects the will of the people.

“If you want to solve the problem, we need to change to a two-party system,” he said.

Anwar Ibrahim was appointed as Malaysia’s 10th prime minister on Nov 24, 2022.

He obtained the majority support to form the government after being backed by MPs from Pakatan Harapan (PH), Barisan Nasional (BN), Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), Warisan, and several others.

PH won 82 seats, Perikatan Nasional 73, BN 30, GPS 23, GRS six and Warisan three. Two independents were also elected.