While Dr Mahathir Mohamad has portrayed his return to power as a reformer, his once Umno colleague Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah claims instead that he has not changed from his first tenure as prime minister, and is merely “wearing new clothes.”

"He was like that 23 years ago, he was like that 22 years ago. I think he is like that now," he told a press conference.

"He's no longer a dictator? You look at the lineup.

“A party (Bersatu) was born only a few years ago, and now it leads the governments in Kedah, Perak, Johor and elsewhere. And you see the number of seats they have," he said.

"He is the same (person), but he has thrown away his old worn clothes," he said.

Though Bersatu only won 13 of the 122 parliamentary seats won by Pakatan Harapan and its allies, the coalition came to a consensus to name Mahathir the seventh prime minister.

The governments of Kedah, Perak and Johor are led by also led by Bersatu – which Mahathir chairs – despite its Harapan partners winning more seats in those states.

Besides economic reforms, Mahathir and Harapan rode into power promising a slew of institutional reforms, including introducing term limits for the prime minister and abolishing laws curtailing free speech. 

Meanwhile, Tengku Razaleigh also raised concerns about the cancellation of mega projects which he said may spark a tit-for-tat action from their counterparts.

"I don't think it is a good way of having relationships with other countries.

"Supposedly I cancel the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project because I think it is not fair to us. What if they suddenly say 'we don't need palm oil from your country', it will affect Felda schemes and estates owned by investors," he said.

"You have to think of the implication. You can cancel this and that, but you have not abolished the tolls."

The Umno veteran also noted that the party used the wrong strategy in Kelantan and Terengganu, which led to PAS winning both states.

"We do not think the strategy of three-cornered fights were beneficial to Umno."

Umno's defeat was caused by outstation voters who flocked back to the two states to support PAS, he noted.