Ex-premier Mahathir Mohamad hopes that his misfeasance suit against Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak will be heard in court, for if it is thrown out, then it is confirmed that rule of law no longer exists under the present administration.

"As per the legal process, suits like this must be brought to the courts to be heard so that it can rule on the matter.

"If it doesn't make it to court, it means that rule of law is not longer present; there is no rule of law under Najib," he told reporters during a press conference in Putrajaya.

Lawyers representing Mahathir and two others filed a suit against Najib for alleged ‘tort of misfeasance in public office’ and ‘tort of breach of fiduciaries in public office’ on Mar 23.

In a related matter, without mentioning any parties, Mahathir said that the courts at present may also be seen as doing the opposite of what it is supposed to do, when individuals who lodged police reports are detained instead of those being reported.

"The courts are there, but when police reports are lodged, the complainant is summoned, questioned, arrested, and charged in court for making the report. Though for a different offence, apparently he is a terrorist," said Mahathir in his trademark sarcasm.

It is likely that he is referring to former Umno leader Khairuddin Abu Hassan and lawyer Matthias Chang, both of whom are widely seen as Mahathir's confidantes, who were charged in court under the anti-terrorism Sosma law last year.

Khairuddin was arrested after he lodged a series of reports against sovereign fund 1MDB in several countries and charged for allegedly attempting to sabotage Malaysia's banking system.

Chang, who is Khairuddin's lawyer, was also picked up and charged under the same offence.

Mahathir also opined that political parties should stop accepting political contributions from overseas as when the party that accepted the donation wins in elections, they may have to follow dictates of their foreign donors.

However, he said that political funding from local donors should be okay.

Mahathir stressed that in his 22-year tenure as PM, he never once accepted any political funding or donation from overseas.

He added that NGOs too should stop taking funding from foreign countries as these monetary aids are usually an attempt to influence and even interfere in local affairs.