KUALA LUMPUR, July 11 — Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today acknowledged that Malaysia’s ethnic Chinese have contributed to the country’s growth through the years and continue to do so with their business acumen.

The Kedah-born politician, who turned 98 yesterday, said he was impressed by the ideas and ability that Chinese Malaysians have after visiting one of the newest shopping complexes in the capital city that he described as a "fantastic development” and grander than those in London, Tokyo or Seoul.

"The Malays cannot do it. They don’t have the money or the ideas. Their shops are the stalls on the roadside, ramshackle affairs, with blue plastic roofs,” he said in his latest blogpost.

But, the author of Malay Proclamation also asserted that this indicated the power of the Chinese Malaysians not only in dealing with economic matters but politically as well, without providing specifics.

"By all means make money in Malaysia. Build your super shopping towns.

"But do not deprive the Malays of their country and their history. Allow the Malays to have their share,” he wrote.

He claimed the Malays have accepted that Chinese Malaysians dominate the economy as the latter group is "very good in business”.

"In the past, the Malays dominated the political arena and the administration. So there was a balance. But now the Chinese are also politically powerful. And they intend to be even more powerful.

"If they dominate the political arena also, what is there left for the Malays? Is it wrong for the Malays to try to regain a little of their former political dominance?” he added.

Dr Mahathir said there have been Malays "who have made good, but there are so few of them”.

He asserted that Malaysia has "always been a Malay country” even if its population today is multiracial, and that the Malays here "made a concession to accommodate Chinese and Indians migrants” by granting them citizenship.

He added that in other countries, the immigrants who chose to settle there are "assimilated”.

Dr Mahathir, who competed in GE15 last November but failed to defend his Langkawi parliamentary seat, has recently been pushing the narrative that Malays are under siege in their own country.

In another recent post on social media, Dr Mahathir claimed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is beholden to the Chinese-dominated DAP even though the party only has four ministers in the Cabinet.

The former two-time prime minister also claimed that promoting a multi-ethnic Malaysia is unconstitutional, and alleged that the Federal Constitution is steeped in "Malayness”.

In a series of tweets, Dr Mahathir claimed that the DAP had a "manifesto” to turn the country into a multi-ethnic secular one without a religion of the federation, and that the Anwar administration would collapse if the party’s 40 MPs chose to withdraw their support for the PKR president.

His remark was slammed by many in the government as baseless, including Anwar and DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke.

The Malaysian Bar has also condemned him for selectively interpreting the Federal Constitution.