After decades of political jousting and accusing each other of racism, Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Lim Kit Siang’s opposing ideologies found a common ground, or rather, foe - Najib Abdul Razak.

However, this unprecedented cooperation came apart at the seams soon after securing a historic win in the 2018 national polls. The Pakatan Harapan government collapsed after 22 months.

With the next general election looming, Mahathir announced that...