Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad and PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail are "political icons" and should not be made to muzzle their views, said Bersatu supreme council member Akhramsyah Sanusi.

He was responding to a Universiti Utara Malaysia political analyst who said Bersatu and Pakatan Harapan leaders must learn not to air their disagreements in public so as not to derail the political pact.

"Leaders like Mahathir and Wan Azizah are not just party leaders but are political icons in their own right.

"Mahathir in particular carries with his opinions the weight of decades of success as our former prime minister as well as international recognition as an outspoken advocate of the third world.

"Malaysians should welcome their willingness to exercise their right as our very own iconic leaders to share opinions as part of the richness of our national conversation on how to develop our country," he told Malaysiakini.

He said academics should not encourage the muzzling of views in a democracy for the sake of political expediency.

This will add to the culture of fear and will only help the corrupt, he said.

Besides, differences of opinions are common and can be settled through consensus-building, he said.

Wan Azizah and Mahathir disagreed on the Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M), which the former premier said was political corruption and illegal.

Akhramsyah said it is appropriate and "well past due" to have an open debate on this policy.

"It looks like the only idea Prime Minister Najib Razak has is to help the poor, giving them once in a while," he said.

"BR1M deserves a good round of critique leading up to GE14."