He said the opposition was in disarray when the previous coalition was formed after the general election of March 2008.
“At the time, PR parties could not even agree on who should be their prime ministerial candidate when it was getting close to the 13th general election in May 2013,” he said of the former coalition comprising DAP, PKR and PAS.
The coalition disintegrated following an internal dispute in June 2015.
DAP had then labelled the alliance as “dead”, pointing out that it could not work with PAS after the Islamic party’s congress passed a motion to cut ties with DAP.
DAP and PKR then joined forces with PAS’ splinter Amanah to form PH in September 2015.
The three parties then accepted PPBM as the fourth component in PH in March last year.
The stage was set for the next general election (GE14), with the coalition agreeing in January this year to select Mahathir as its prime ministerial candidate in the event it wins GE14.
“Things are different now with PH because its components have agreed on who should lead the coalition, and become their prime minister and deputy prime minister,” Mahathir said.
The man who was prime minister for 22 years, from 1981 to 2003, was also appointed PH chairman in July last year.
Addressing a crowd at an event in Kampung Baru here, the 93-year-old also said he was willing to be the bait to reel in Malay support for the opposition pact in the polls.
He said he had not intended to come out of retirement but was forced to do so to defeat the Barisan Nasional (BN) government led by Prime Minister Najib Razak.
He said while people had found it hard to trust the opposition, he believed that he still commanded influence among the Malays.
“Therefore, if they want to lean on me, I am willing, even in my old age. It’s okay,” he said.
“I was forced out of retirement because of irregularities with the management of our (Malaysia’s) finances,” he said.
“If they want me to hold the position of prime minister, then I will despite my old age. It won’t be for long as it’s not my motive to hold on to the post until the end of my life,” he said.
Mahathir also said his government would set up a committee to look into issues faced by the residents of Kampung Baru.
He said Kampung Baru needed to be developed without affecting its image as a Malay village, unlike other Malay settlements like Kampung Kerinchi and Abdullah Hukum, also in Kuala Lumpur, that were no longer villages.
He claimed that Kampung Baru’s development was promised by the current government but not delivered.
He said the development would have to be equivalent to the premium value of the land there.
The century-old enclave was featured by CNN in 2016 as a “village lost in time” as it is located in the heart of the busy cosmopolitan capital.
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