Umno information chief Annuar Musa has claimed that Dr Mahathir Mohamad never commanded strong Malay support, not even during his 22-year tenure as prime minister.

As such, Annuar said, those who intended on using him to draw the Malay vote away from Umno in the upcoming general election are "mistaken".

Mahathir is presently chairperson of Bersatu and opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan.

Annuar (photo) said today that in his experience working with the former premier, he had found it difficult to convince Malay voters to back Mahathir.  

“The Malays who follow PAS have for a long time rejected Mahathir.

“The Malays who did support him were those who supported him because of his Umno-ness, not his Mahathir-ness.

“Those who followed Mahathir because of Mahathir were few in numbers," he said in an Umno Online forum entitled "Umno - Party for the future" today.

An Umno supreme council member since 1991, Annuar served as the minister of rural development in Mahathir’s administration. He did not specify, however, when these observations were made.

The Ketereh MP also said the few who supported Mahathir then would not continue doing so now.

“That small number have now seen how Mahathir is undermining his own authority (as the former prime minister and Umno president), and have seen his principles.

“I do not think we can take for granted that Malays will support Dr Mahathir (in GE14),” he added. 

Annuar's reading of events comes in light of a "Malay tsunami" that Mahathir and Bersatu are touted to bring to Harapan.

The opposition coalition predicts that a 10 percent shift in the Malay vote away from BN will be enough to help it capture Putrajaya.