DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang has expressed confidence that the nation will not see a repeat of the 1998 people's uprising that arose from the clash between then-prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his deputy Anwar Ibrahim.

According to Lim, much has changed for the better in the past 20 years.

"I think we have all changed. Mahathir, Anwar and all the leading players in Pakatan Harapan have learnt the lessons of life to be better persons and to be more sensitive, more sensible and better Malaysian leaders, " he said in an interview with The Malaysian Insight.

Lim was asked to comment on speculation of the 1998 scenario repeating itself, when Mahathir was also prime minister, and Anwar the intended successor.

While seen to be working together at the time, the two leaders were said to be fierce rivals within Umno – which came to a head with Anwar’s sacking from government and his first prison stint.

Now a free man, Anwar has said he would first return to Parliament only as a backbencher, although there continue to be claims that he has his eyes set on the prime minister's post well before Mahathir’s agreed upon two-year tenure.

Though both have continually stressed all is well within the Harapan camp, doubt persist over whether Mahathir would indeed make way for Anwar, due to the contentious past between the two.

In an interview with Sinar Harian earlier this week, Mahathir once again reaffirmed that Anwar will succeed him as the eighth prime minister.

Lim – one of the country's longest serving parliamentarians – stressed that he is now convinced that Mahathir is no longer the same man who he and other then-opposition figures fought against in the past.

"I believe Mahathir of today is very different from the Mahathir who was prime minister of Malaysia for 22 years from 1981-2003.

"He has transformed from a hegemon to a consensus-builder.

"I believe that Malaysia is in good hands under Mahathir and Harapan," he was quoted as saying.