Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) central committee member S Arutchelvan said he hopes Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) president Mohamad Sabu will defend his earlier stand of supporting local government elections, in view of Dr Mahathir Mohamad's objection.

"My good friend Mohamad Sabu had, on Jan 9, 2016, said in Shah Alam, 'We hope Pakatan Harapan can bring back local government elections, so that things like nepotism, waste and corruption can be lessened'.

"Recently, at a reformasi gathering on Feb 25, 2017, Mohamad Sabu maintained this was a promise. I hope he will defend his position on local government elections," Arutchelvan said in a Facebook post today.

He also pointed out that bringing back local government elections was a promise included in the 2008 election manifesto of Harapan's predecesor, Pakatan Rakyat.

Previously, Mahathir, who is Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) chairperson, had objected to local government elections, saying it could lead to a dangerous situation.

The former prime minister argued that local government elections could create Chinese-ruled urban and Malay-ruled rural areas.

He warned that if different local governments were dominated by a single race, it would be unsafe for the country.

Mohamad Sabu, better known as Mat Sabu, later said Mahathir's objection to the elections might be raised when Pakatan Harapan coalition leaders meet in the future.

Arutchelvan said PSM supported bringing back local elections at all levels.

"Before local government elections were banned, many leftists won seats and this is the real reason it was banned at that time.

"The position taken by Mahathir now is the same position taken by PAS; why do they not want to have local government elections?" he asked.