PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (pic) has dismissed a survey that Pakatan Harapan is run by DAP, saying that he is no "puppet".

Dr Mahathir was asked to comment on a survey conducted nationwide that nearly 60% of the Malays surveyed were not happy with the performance of the Pakatan government.

Dr Mahathir, who is Pakatan chairman, said the survey was a "fiction" that the coalition was run by DAP and that he was just a "puppet".

"I have never been a puppet yet lah. I talked to many Malays. It is not 60%, there is a small percentage, but not 60%.

"These are assessments made by the opposition as part of their campaign to denigrate us," he said to reporters at the Perdana Leadership Foundation here on Friday (Feb 1).

The survey found that 60% of the respondents believed that non-Muslims were now in control of the government and that DAP was calling the shots in Putrajaya.

The survey, conducted jointly by pollster Ilham Centre and think tank Penang Institute, interviewed 2,614 Malay respondents between Oct 24 and Dec 24, 2018.