Reducing the wealth gap can help strengthen racial ties, according to former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“If the wealth disparity is huge (between the races), there would be tension and riots,” he said during a Facebook Live question and answer session.

Mahathir, who is now chairperson of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), was asked how Pakatan Harapan would mend racial ties if it was given the mandate in the next general election.

The former premier said this was the formula he had applied during his 22-year tenure.

"I was known as an ultra Malay in Malaysia and Singapore for rejecting Chinese (Malaysian) as though I hated them.

"But the fact was that the Chinese supported me and I won five general elections. So, the accusation that I was an ultra Malay was merely a political gimmick. When we want to topple someone, we just demonise him.

"It was never my intention to cause problems for the Chinese, I just wanted the Malays to enjoy their right to the country's wealth. For this, we prioritised the Malays so that they could catch up," he said.

Mahathir also said that the Chinese in Malaysia made remarkable achievements during his time as prime minister.

Meanwhile, Mahathir said Bersatu had wanted to cooperate with PAS, but it was the Islamist party which decided to work with Umno.  

Bersatu took a lot of effort to meet PAS representatives to push for cooperation with the party, but they were later rejected by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, he added. 

Mahathir noted that Hadi had used the Arabic term 'tahaluf siyasi', which means political cooperation, when talking about PAS working with other parties. 

"I saw him hug (DAP veteran Lim) Kit Siang, he said it was tahaluf siyasi.

"This is Arabic language and the word is not abstracted from Al-Quran..they just want to gain victory via political cooperation. So don't lie to the people (as though) this is an instruction from the God in Islam," said Mahathir.