DAP was sincere about working with Dr Mahathir Mohamad and was not merely using the elder statesment for votes, party secretary-general Anthony Loke said.

Loke insisted that their goal was not just to topple then Barisan Nasional but to bring change to the country.

“We (DAP) were sincere in collaborating, hoping that Dr Mahathir had changed.

“The goal was not only to bring down Najib Razak’s administration but to also bring reforms,” he was quoted as saying by news portal Free Malaysia Today after an event in the capital this morning.

Yesterday Dr Mahathir, during a podcast hosted by former Umno leaders, Khairy Jamaluddin and Shahril Hamdan, said he was willing to work with arch nemesis DAP prior to their election triumph in 2018 because they shared a common goal – to bring down Najib.

The 98-year-old said the decision to work with DAP was determined by certain objectives.

“The enemy of your enemy is your friend,” the former Langkawi MP said. 

“We set the goals and we set how to achieve the goals. People accused me of using DAP, but DAP used me, too, to get to power.

“They needed the majority and I needed the majority. If I did not get the majority, I could not have defeated Najib.

“Between Najib Razak and DAP, I chose DAP because Najib was the enemy,” he said during the “Keluar Sekejap” podcast. – November 14, 2023.