Dr Mahathir Mohamad today continued his tirade on professionals being "forced" to take up odd jobs such as selling nasi lemak.

The former premier said that if someone really wanted to sell nasi lemak, there was no need to get high qualifications in fields such as engineering.

"Now we see people like engineers not being able to get jobs who are forced to sell nasi lemak.

"If we are spending hundreds of thousands of ringgit to train someone who ends up selling nasi lemak, that is a waste.

"If they really want to sell nasi lemak, then there's no need to make them an engineer," he said in his weekly “Policy Talk”, which was streamed on Facebook live today.

This week’s session focused on Malays and bumiputeras.

He said those who praised such initiatives for returning professional graduates showed a lack of understanding about the country's social problems.

Mahathir had said in last week's "Policy Talk" session that it was shameful for Malaysian graduates to resort to selling nasi lemak or become drivers for ride-hailing services such as Uber.

His comment courted flak for being insensitive to those who chose such professions willingly.

However, the nonagenarian insisted that it was a symptom proving the lack of job opportunities for Malaysian youths.

Meanwhile, Mahathir, whose candidacy as prime minister is supposed to attract Malay voters to Pakatan Harapan, also reiterated his views that Malays were not well-off due to their own flaws.

"The Malays don't place a high value on the mastery of knowledge and working hard, that is why we are lagging behind," Mahathir said in explaining why others were doing better than the Malays.

He said no one can help the Malays but themselves if they truly want change.

In his speech, Mahathir claimed that many Malays were still lagging behind economically, with a huge gap between the rich and the poor.