SG BESAR POLLS Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad has blamed Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak for the cancellation of his appearance on Harith Iskander's comedy show tomorrow.

"I was supposed to be on stage with him to exchange thoughts on funny things.

"That was his purpose, because he's a comedian, not a politician.

"But suddenly he got orders to stop this programme. This is Najib's way," Mahathir revealed during a speech in Sungai Besar today.

Harith currently has a comedy show on Astro Awani, titled 'Obviously Harith Iskander' (OHI) which airs at 9.30pm every Saturday.

According to the show's official Twitter account, this week's show will be about the ongoing Euro football championship.

Mahathir said he had already filmed segments for his appearance this Saturday before the cancellation order came.

He claimed the only things allowed to be said about Najib on air these days are good things about the prime minister.

This, he claimed, was Najib's way of stifling dissent.

When contacted, an Astro corporate communications unit spokesperson told Malaysiakini the OHI will still be airing its programme on Astro Awani.

The spokesperson said OHI will be having a special programme on Euro 2016.

"OHI was not cancelled, we've already uploaded the poster and information about Euro 2016 on Facebook and the host is still Harith Iskander," said the spokesperson.

However, the spokesperson declined to comment further.

Harith in a Twitter posting later said he still hoped to some day host Mahathir on his show.

However, he said the June 18 show will be about the Euro 2016.