Last month, Malaysians were treated to the sight of one-time foes Dr Mahathir Mohamad, 95, and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, 83, holding a press conference at Parliament and calling for a change ahead of a vote on Budget 2021.

If it was a familiar yet incongruous sight, let’s bear in mind that the pair served together in the cabinet as far back as the first Tun Hussein Onn administration in 1976...