Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has no reason to be happy over the BN's win in the Sarawak state election last Saturday, said former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

"Najib has no reason to be happy. What the Sarawak BN achieved is to weaken the authority of the central government which Najib leads.

"He is now going to be even more dependent on the support of Sarawak than before. Already, he has given in to all (of) Sarawak's demands," Mahathir said in a posting on his blog today.

On Saturday, Sarawak BN, boosted by the popularity of Sarawak Chief Minister Adenan Satem, won a landslide victory in the state election, capturing 72 state seats against seven won by the DAP and three by PKR.

However, Mahathir warned that the strength of Adenan's government means the authority of the central government has been inversely weakened.

There should be a balance of power between the central and the state governments to ensure interdependence between the two, he said.

However, after the 13th general election, support from Sarawak and Sabah became crucial to the central government, as it only required a loss (by defection) of 12 or 13 MPs for the central government to be brought down, he explained.

"Now more than ever Najib will have to pander to the demands of Sarawak. In fact, Najib has been doing just that.

"Anything that Sarawak asks for, Sarawak will get. The cry of Sarawak for the Sarawakians has become louder," he said.

The dependence of the central government on Sarawak has not been lost on the other states, he said, adding that the other states were now more strident about their demands for greater autonomy.

On the other hand, he noted that the poorer states will suffer from the imbalance of treatment by the central government.

"So, while Adenan and Sarawakians celebrate their landslide victory, Najib will have to worry about being over-dependent on the fix-deposit states," he said.

Mahathir also congratulated SUPP (Sarawak United People's Party), and Adenan for his coalition's victory in the Sarawak election, saying that this was a satisfying achievement for a first-time chief minister.

The longest-serving prime minister had been a vocal critic of Najib since last year and had quit Umno in protest of Najib's administration.