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FORMER Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today reiterated his earlier stand that schools must teach Science and Mathematics in English.He was commenting on the National Education Blueprint 2013-2025, which was unveiled last month by Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Dr Mahathir went on the offensive today, claiming that he had given a lot of input for the blueprint and yet, very little of what he said was used by the Government.

"The Government is focusing too much on Bahasa Malaysia.

The Malays, however, are not experts in science and technology.

This kind of knowledge comes from the West and the information is mostly in English," he added.

Noting that the Government had instead followed the advice of National Laureate Datuk A. Samad Said by reverting to teaching both subjects in the national language, Dr Mahathir said this would only hamper the country's development.

"He (Samad) only knows about Bahasa Malaysia. He is not a Science man.

I am a Science man and I can still speak in Malay," he pointed out, adding, "This is why I keep talking about it."

Meanwhile, Dr Mahathir joked that he would like to be the prime minister again, after being told that he was recently voted the most popular Umno leader.

Malaysia's prime minister of 22 years scored 79pc satisfaction level among 600 Umno supporters in a survey which was conducted last month by the Merdeka Centre.

"I financed them," he quipped at a press conference today, causing the room to erupt in laughter.

Even though he resigned as prime minister 10 years ago this month, Dr Mahathir fared better than Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak who scored 69pc, Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (58pc) and Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (54pc).