Pakatan Harapan de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim has a right to comment on government policies as a Malaysian citizen, said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

"(Anwar) is like everybody else. He can comment, make any comment. He's not in the government.

"But generally, once we agree on something in the cabinet we stick to that decision [...]

"Others who are not in the cabinet may make their own comments. They can say what they like. But we are the government," Mahathir told Singapore's Channel News Asia.

Following Pakatan Harapan's victory in the 14th general election on May 9, Anwar was released from prison on May 19 and granted a pardon for his previous sodomy convictions going back to 1998.

Now a free man, Anwar has spoken out regularly to the press on government policies. He is also the sole guest on an Astro Awani weekly programme called "AI".

During one episode of "AI", Anwar had urged Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng to go easy on exposing scandals involving the past administration as it might rock foreign investors' confidence.

Prior to GE14, Harapan's leadership structure had placed Anwar as the coalition’s "de facto" leader while Mahathir was "chairperson".

However, full executive power over the coalition appears to be vested in Mahathir.

Harapan had announced that Mahathir was supposed to hand over reins of the country to Anwar mid-term. Both individuals and the coalition have not committed to a date yet.