Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has advised fellow Malaysians to accept potential salary cuts amidst the Covid-19 pandemic but stressed that it is possible to earn money through other ways, such as monetising one's hobbies.

"Sometimes people will have to stop work because there is no demand and because there is no demand you cannot keep on employing people and paying them a salary when you are not making any money.

"One of the things we have to accept is if the income is low... we cannot expect to enjoy the same old lifestyle which costs money.

"When you reduce your kind of activities which costs money before, your need for pay would be less and you could actually live on lower pay.

"That means you not only continue to have a decent life but also your employer will not be strained by having to pay you the same pay," Mahathir said in a live-stream interview session with youth group MyPerintis.