Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the heads of Pakatan Harapan component parties did not object to his list of cabinet members and their deputies.

"(I) informed the heads of the parties, that (I) will be choosing people who may not be on their list and they have not protested.

"I called up the people, ministers and deputy ministers to ask them whether they accept the post I'm giving them... And strangely, there was not much protest.

"There were some who felt that, well, I should have given this and that... but when it was pointed out to them that I have already filled up those places, they didn’t protest, they accepted," he told Singapore's Channel News Asia.

On whether his government was tenable since it was made up of four ideologically different parties, Mahathir said that his administration has been rather fortunate.

"Before, there was a dominant party. Umno was the dominant party. But (now), you have to listen to four different voices.

"(I) have to then summarise and say, this is generally what (I) believe and then get their agreement.

"Fortunately for us, we were able to reach an agreement, despite the fact that people say our coalition is not a very strong coalition," he added.

Mahathir said he expected to have 29 individuals in his cabinet - down from 35 in Najib Abdul Razak's cabinet - and that the swearing-in ceremony depended on the Yang di-Pertuan Agong's availability.

The palace has stated that the swearing-in ceremony will take place next Monday.

Mahathir also denied allegations that he was delaying the appointments due to rifts within Harapan.

"It's not true... I have already finished my list and I have submitted it to the king," he said.