(Bloomberg) -- Malaysians are losing patience and are starting to criticize the current government over its unfulfilled election promises, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said in Kuala Lumpur Saturday.

While the people wanted to see immediate changes, the present administration is unable to implement quick reforms because of the legacy left behind by the previous government, he said in a keynote address at Democracy Fest 2019. “But like it or not, they have to bear with us and bear with the present government because it takes time to correct all the wrongs that have been done by the previous government,” he said.

Mahathir’s government, which toppled the United Malays National Organization-led coalition in a shock election victory in May, has also been a target of the previous premier Najib Razak. Najib posted a video of a car making a swift turn to criticize flip flops by the present administration and shared the phone numbers of two government offices to encourage ministers to speak to one another.

“Phones have existed since 1876," Najib wrote in a Facebook post, after the finance minister expressed shock at an announcement made by the economic affairs minister. “At least call each other up once in a while.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Elffie Chew in Kuala Lumpur at echew16@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Scent at bscent@bloomberg.net, Virginia Van Natta, Tom Redmond

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