Mahathir said while there would be unhappiness with policies introduced by the government, “very few” had left Malaysia because of its affirmative action policies.

“Even those who have migrated to other countries retain their Malaysian citizenship because they want to come back.

“This is the country that they have been brought up in, and they feel that, over time, things will resolve,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg.

In April, digital minister Gobind Singh Deo said Malaysia was facing a critical brain drain problem with 1.86 million Malaysians leaving the country over the past 50 years.

Gobind said the figure represented 5.6% of the population – higher than the global average of 3.6%.

On June 3, however, Talent Corporation Malaysia Bhd, a government agency tasked with wooing Malaysians to return home, said that applications for its Returning Expert Programme surged by 19% from 2021 to 2024, with approvals increasing by 24% over the same period.

Mahathir also defended the affirmative action policies which he claimed the country had learned from the US, saying they were necessary as the disparity between the Malays and Chinese was dangerous and could lead to violence.

He cited the 1969 race riots, claiming these occurred because “the Chinese were rich and even politically, the Malay dominance was eroded”.

“Because of that, we feel that we should reduce the disparity between rich and poor within Malays and Chinese. That was why we adopted affirmative action,” he said.

Ties with China

Mahathir also said that Malaysia had survived despite China being a superpower.

He said Malaysia must accept that China is a powerful nation and that “we have to find some way of living with them”.

In terms of territorial disputes, Mahathir said Malaysia did not accept the claim that the South China Sea belongs to China.

But he added that despite Beijing’s claim, China had not acted in a territorial manner.

“They have not stopped ships from passing through, or examined ships or imposed restrictions,” he said.