The Malaysian political landscape has never been short on bizarre twists.

For example, at the age of 92, Dr Mahathir Mohamad did the unthinkable - he became an opposition leader and shared the same table with his former staunch adversaries to oust Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

In another unprecedented twist, the nonagenarian is now being touted as the possible prime ministerial candidate if the opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan wins the next general election.

In an interview with Channel News Asia, Mahathir, who was prime minister from 1981 to 2003, said he has no interest in assuming the post again.

However, he said people respond to him "for whatever reason".

"If, in the end, nobody comes forward, nobody agrees to any candidate and they point out to me, it'll be churlish of me, just because I want to retire and rest and all that, not to respond to them.

"If there are no more candidates and if all the parties in the coalition agree I should be a part-time, interim prime minister, I'll come back," he said...