Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has expressed annoyance over signboards in Chinese and the neglect of Malay at shopping centres in Kuala Lumpur, saying “suddenly I felt I was in China” during a recent weekend visit to a plaza.

Mahathir said the capital’s shopping complexes were “great” and the new ones were “fantastic” compared to the commercial towers in London or Tokyo.

He, however, lamented the absence of the national language from the display boards.

“All the signboards are in Chinese with English translations. Nothing in Malay. Not at all,” the 99-year-old politician said in a social media post on Monday.

“So is this Malaysia. Or have we become a part of China?”

Mahathir said the usage of English was understandable and signboards in Japan also had similar features but voiced displeasure over “big” Chinese characters emblazoned on shopfronts.

He claimed some Chinese media referred to Malaysia as “Little China” due to the practice of stores prominently highlighting Chinese characters.