More than a decade since resigning as prime minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad continues to defend his privatisation policy, which critics claimed created the culture of crony capitalism and widened the income gap in Malaysia.

In an interview with CNN Indonesia, Mahathir said only successful individuals leading companies in the private sector were labelled as cronies, despite them contributing to the nation’s development through taxes on profits made.

“When there are people who benefited from the development, then they are the ones labelled as cronies. But if they fail, they won’t be called a crony.

“So if we want to ensure that there will be no allegations of cronyism, all the private ventures must fail. But then we will suffer,” he argued...