DR Mahathir Mohamad, who made history by becoming prime minister twice, said his role this time around is “much more difficult” as he has to work with an unfamiliar team in an uncertain environment.

Dr Mahathir, who set a world record as the oldest prime minister at 92, said when he first took office in 1981 at 56, the government was intact, and he only had to fill cabinet posts with names.

After leading Pakatan Harapan to victory in the 14th general election, he said he is faced with a “much more difficult task”.

“I’m working in a very uncertain environment. I have to work with the existing government structure that has been polluted by the previous government. It is a much more difficult task (than in 1981).

“I have to sit down and be briefed. And then, I have to fill posts with people I don’t know. It takes a lot of time (to put the new government in place),” he said in an interview with The Edge.

He said he is now working with a crop of top civil servants he is unfamiliar with, and so, he has to be extra careful about who to trust.

“Some (civil servants) were deeply involved (in the previous government). Some were obviously forced to do certain things. Again, we have to separate them, between those who are very committed to the previous ruling party and those who were forced to do their work in favour of (the ruling party), which is very wrong.

“I know some of the old civil servants, but I do not know some of the new ones. Can I accept them and trust them?

“Political departments were set up to serve the political party, not the country. There was a lot of money spent. It is horrendous. All these (appointees), we have to get them out.”

Dr Mahathir retired in 2003 after being in office for 22 years, before returning to politics in 2016, setting up Bersatu to lead the charge to take down former prime minister Najib Razak.

“People are not happy with the (previous) government. They think many things were done wrong, and we have to dig out these wrong things.” – May 26, 2018.