Only a dictatorship would ask pupils to raise the ruling party's flags and sing the party's song, said former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

He was asked to comment on an Umno-themed decoration contest and play at SK Putrajaya Presint 14 (1), which saw students chanting "Hidup Umno" (Long live Umno) and waving flags of the party.

"I once visited a country where the people must support the top leader, it is a country which practised dictatorship," he said when met at the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia's (Bersatu) headquarters.

"There is a cult of personality in the dictatorship system, where people must support the leader even though he is a thug, a robber and a thief," said the Bersatu chairperson...