DR Mahathir Mohamad has chided the current band of ministers for failing to see the needs of the people.

“(The current leaders) are not very impressive, I must say.

“The ministers seem to be doing no work at all. We don’t see them doing anything and we know that ministers are refusing to see people.

“For example, ministers refuse to see investors, refuse to see anybody… and when you refuse to see them, people will consider you as unfriendly.

“During my time, I introduced a business-friendly government, that was why despite the racial economic divide, we were growing at 7% (a year),” the former prime minister told FreeMalaysiaToday.

Dr Mahathir said even the cabinet does not know about the people’s needs and how they can effect change, adding that even the prime minister (Muhyiddin Yassin) was a difficult man to see.

The Langkawi MP said when he saw prime minister, he met at least three to four delegations a day to know what was being discussed in public so that he could make adjustments.

The current cabinet lacks an understanding of what the people needed, their feelings and what they as leaders can do to effect change, he said.

While the Perikatan Nasional administration had done some work on the Covid-19 movement restrictions, it needed to do more to revive an economy ravaged by the pandemic.

Dr Mahathir also said one of the reasons the government was not functioning was because of poor governance and corruption, which was why Malaysia is struggling to attract foreign investment.

The United Nations trade agency UNCTAD said foreign investment in Malaysia dropped by 68% to US$2.5 billion (RM10.25 billion) in 2020, a far greater drop than the 31% decline that Southeast Asia experienced as a whole. – February 9, 2021.