Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has a lot on his plate and not much time to get it all done.

A Bloomberg report today noted that Mahathir both needed to fulfil Harapan’s electoral promises and reassure the public that Harapan could manage the country well during its first time in government.

"In our conversations in the days since the election, what we keep coming back to is the urgent need to reward the trust of the people and actually deliver on our promises.

"It is key to establishing his legitimacy.

"He needed to demonstrate, 'Look, we're doing the right thing here, the key elements of the economy will be taken of," said A Kadir Jasin, who is the communications chief for the Council of Eminent Persons, as reported by Bloomberg today.

But, in Mahathir's haste to do all he needs to do, he purportedly risks overstepping or rocking the boat within the coalition if people feel they were not consulted.

Bloomberg noted that he could also cause concern among companies and investors who are more used to policy certainty, as he seeks to cut both the country's revenue and spending, which may see him making economic decisions quickly.

This may require him or his administration to explain its economic pledges, especially zero-rating the GST which would heavily affect revenue.

"People are a bit worried about the fiscal situation.

"How will they handle that? They might need to calm the markets a bit," Bloomberg reported ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute's Malaysia program co-coordinator Cassey Lee as saying.

The intense pressure faced by Harapan has also reportedly taken its toll on the premier.

Bersatu policy bureau deputy chief Wan Saiful Wan Jan told Bloomberg that Mahathir "broke down and cried" in a closed-door meeting when the party was served with the notice of a provisional suspension just weeks before polling day, which prevented them from campaigning.

"The iron man of Malaysian politics, he completely lost it.

"I'd never seen him like that," he added.

'The Mahathir way'

The news outlet noted that there were many reasons why Mahathir was in such a rush.

"Let's face it, he is 92 years old and there simply isn't a lot of time left for him to do everything he wants to do.

"Mahathir himself has said that he will serve, at most, for two years, so it is no surprise he is hitting the ground running," said Joseph Chinyong Liow, who is the dean of the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

Aside from his age, Mahathir had also promised to hand over the reins to PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim within two years.

Anwar was previously serving a five-year jail term for sodomy charges which he has consistently denied, but was given a full royal pardon and released within a week of Harapan capturing Putrajaya.

Though Anwar has since said that he will give Mahathir space to do what he needs to do, the clock is counting down to the two-year limit they have given themselves.

"He (Mahathir) went around the country and the moment he mentioned 1MDB, there would be uproar and the moment he mentioned the GST," Anwar said to Bloomberg when asked why Mahathir was moving so quickly on those issues.

Mahathir has been swift in taking action against 1MDB. One day after he was sworn in as prime minister, he announced that he had ordered the police to submit their reports on 1MDB to him so that he could study it.

Mahathir also just set up a new task force to look into the 1MDB case again.

"It looks like Mahathir would like to take back all the 1MDB stolen money in 100 days.

"It seems too ambitious but that is the Mahathir way," University Malaya associate professor in Malay Studies, Awang Azman Awang Pawi, told Bloomberg.

The police have also been raiding premises linked to Najib in connection to the 1MDB case. Najib himself is scheduled to be questioned by MACC today.

Academic Liow, however, reportedly warned the new government to tread more carefully around the 1MDB issue as they should not trigger a witch hunt against the previous government.

"Who now knows how deep this iceberg goes.

"Purely for the sake of stability I would advise the new government to tread very carefully," he said to Bloomberg.