Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today described Group of Eminent Malays (G25) member Tawfik Ismail as someone 'not to be trusted' and carries 'bad intention'.

He expressed his puzzlement over Tawfik's intention to meet him with the group when the latter disliked him so much.

"If he doesn't like me, why he came with the others is beyond me. Obviously he came with a very bad intention, and we cannot trust this kind of people," Mahathir said.

"In front of me, he was very nice, he appeared to be supportive. But when he went outside, that's a different matter," he said.

In a recent interview, Tawfik ( photo ) said that both Mahathir and former deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin met G25 over an alleged move to oust Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

But Tawfik said the request was turned down by G25, an apolitical group.

G25 however mentioned that Tawfik’s views expressed in the interview are his own and does not represent the group.

Tawfik, the son of second deputy prime minister Ismail Abdul Rahman, even said that Najib is the best person to helm the country as he is moderate by nature.

Mahathir also confirmed that he proposed to set up a council of elders to advise the prime minister and allow him to hear the opinions of others.

"In our system, the prime minister chooses the people that support him (into the cabinet). That means, whatever he says would be okayed by the cabinet."

Meanwhile, the council may not be agreeable with the prime minister all the time, he said in a press conference at Malaysia's War On Corruption symposium 2015.

Gather multiracial voice

Mahathir said his purpose of meeting with G25 was to gather the multiracial voice of the civil society in order to topple Najib.

A Chinese group initially approached him, voicing out its concern about the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Najib's ( photo ) leadership.

"But I told them, you will be accused of being a Chinese group which is trying to bring down the Malay government, just like Bersih.

“So, if you want to say something against the government, let it be multiracial, find the Malays and Indians to join it, so it will be a multiracial (effort),” he said without naming the particular group.

That was the reason why he wanted a Malay group such as the G25, to support the Chinese group, he said.

Asked how encouraging has it been his attempt to join forces with civil society and G25, in an uncertain tone, he said: “Tawfik has shot me down, I don’t know if others will be affected.”

Netizens, particular Malaysiakini ’s readers, have said karma has come full circle on Mahathir.

However, he shrugged off the remark, saying he did not care what people think about him.

“The people are afraid to be seen with me, but they will come to me privately to say they support me. When I walk on the streets, people come and say 'I am with you'.

“There must be some people who are not thinking the way the others are thinking. I don’t care anyway.

“I will speak out when I think something is wrong, I will have my say. This is supposed to be a democratic country.

“The moment I mentioned that the prime minister should be changed, that becomes a crime. Under which law? In any other country, asking the prime minister to step down is normal,” Mahathir said.