KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today hit out at the Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim-led unity government, describing it as a dictatorship.

He said all Malaysians have the right to be able to speak up about their unhappiness towards the current government.

“However, this government is against any form of criticism, they even take action against Opposition parties. This is the state that we are in.

“This (government) is a dictatorship. People can’t speak up or criticise the government and that is a dictator for you,” said Dr Mahathir at a press conference on Malay Proclamation that was streamed live on Facebook.

Dr Mahathir alleged that Anwar was behind the cancellation of the venues for the Malay Proclamation gathering which was supposed to take place yesterday.

He said the organisers can’t prove that the government is involved, but said anything was possible with the prime minister’s consent.

It is believed that the gathering’s cancellation was due to Anwar's previous speech directed at Dr Mahathir and his family members.

“I have never said anything about him, but the PM was the one who made speeches against me and my children.

“So, I'm sure he is the person responsible for trying to silence the people who want to speak the truth," said Dr Mahathir.

He said the Malay Proclamation gathering would not cause any racial issues, as he only wanted to gather Malays to express their unhappiness with the current government.

“I don't understand why the government is so afraid of Malays that they won't allow us to gather," he claimed.

Meanwhile, Dr Mahathir credited the new government for its quick action in anti-corruption efforts but criticises them for only targeting those in the Opposition political parties.

He said that to be fair, the unity government should also investigate their own partner Umno.

“Umno spent a lot for their 15th general election (GE15) campaign,” he said.

Dr Mahathir also claimed that the unity government controls the flow of news to be favourable towards them by censoring certain media outlets.

“Everything negative said about the government is not allowed,” he said.

Dr Mahathir said the government's portrayal of Malaysia as a multi-racial country was actually a ploy to remove the special rights of the Malays.

He said the Malays are the original inhabitants of this country and questioned the government‘s fear of them wanting to gather for a rally.

Dr Mahathir also took issue with Anwar's claim that he is the best former finance minister in the country’s history.

“Nothing good comes out of the current government except more debts,” he said.

Dr Mahathir also questioned Anwar’s role as both the prime minister and finance minister.

He said this was despite the public saying that the prime minister cannot be the finance minister.

Earlier, Dr Mahathir was scheduled to attend the Malay Proclamation gathering here which was cancelled and replaced by a press conference at the last minute.

Prior to that the Malay Proclamation gathering had been called off after two venues withdrew their permission for the event.

The 97-year-old had been due to attend the event in his personal capacity and not as Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia (Putra) adviser.