Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak unleashed a vitriolic salvo against Pakatan Harapan and its leaders during a speech before local and foreign investors in Kuala Lumpur this morning.

Besides training his guns on former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, he also had DAP's Lim Kit Siang in his crosshairs.

Najib lambasted the two veteran politicians in his trademark style of not naming them.

In an obvious reference to Lim, the prime minister accused the Gelang Patah MP of hiding behind his one-time nemesis Mahathir to dupe the Malays.

He also reiterated that DAP, which has the most number of parliament seats compared to its allies, remains the dominant force in Harapan.

"The truth is that in a democracy numbers don't lie, and DAP remains by far the most dominant party in the opposition.

"The DAP leader of the last half century is now hiding behind the man who jailed him, trying to deceive Malays into thinking the former leader is their interim candidate for prime minister," he said.

Lim was among the scores of people detained without trial under the now defunct Internal Security Act (ISA) in 1987 when Mahathir was prime minister.

Umno leaders have often accused the predominantly-Chinese DAP of being a threat to the special position of Malays and Islam.

DAP leaders have denied this and accused their rivals of deliberately demonising their party.

However, the scenario changed with Mahathir's Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), which is touted as a replacement for Umno.

When Harapan revealed its presidential council line-up, detractors claimed the coalition left out Lim from the top positions and named Mahathir as its chairperson in order to garner Malay support.

Last week, political analyst James Chin said there is also a royal twist behind Mahathir's appointment as the coalition's chairperson.

He said Mahathir would serve as the conduit between the rulers and Harapan if the coalition wins the next general election.

“The sultans know him well. While some openly dislike him, they also know he is part of the Malay establishment and will ensure Malay domination in any new government.

“The other two pillars of the Malay establishment, the civil service and the security forces, will also be much more likely to accept a non-BN government with Mahathir than one without,” he added.