KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 3 — Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said leaders who change allegiances to form a new government without being voted in by the people are wrong, as seen when Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia left the Pakatan Harapan coalition in February, thereby bringing an end to their 22 months in Putrajaya.

However, if they disagree with their party’s policies or feel that its leadership had deviated from its original goals, they may do so, he said, referring to his resignation from Umno in 2016.

"There will always be party hopping. I myself, when I found myself not agreeing with party leadership, I resigned.

"But it is wrong when they do so to undermine the government, to change the government. This happened when Bersatu decided to leave Pakatan Harapan.

"That kind of party hopping is bad, because you abuse the chance of the party to change the government. When it happens in a big way, you deny the rights of the people to choose the government,” he told a Facebook Live session "A Morning with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad” with MyPerintis today.

The session was moderated by founding chairman of MyPerintis Datuk Lawrence Low together with Chester Venture Berhad founder Datuk Howard Chew and wealth strategist/business mentor Datuk Seri Adrian Wee.

Dr Mahathir was responding to a question from Low on party hopping, which has now triggered the demise of several PH state governments including Johor, Perak and Melaka and led Sabah to dissolve its state assembly, triggering a state election.

In 2016, Dr Mahathir quit Umno in light of its support for the actions of then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak over the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal.

Later that year, Bersatu was officially registered as a political party, with Dr Mahathir as its chairman.

In 2018, Dr Mahathir was announced as the PH coalition’s candidate for prime minister for the general election which took place that same year.