Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad is expected to ditch a planned birthday bash for him organised by the Chinese associations.

The birthday event was controversial as one of the planner was businessperson Tee Yam @ Koo Tee Kam, who was in 2005 detained under the now-defunct Emergency Ordinance 1969.

Koo had denied the authorities' claim that he was involved with a secret society. 

A source with the Prime Minister's Office told Malaysiakini that the planned birthday bash was not part of Mahathir's schedule on July 22.

“No, it is not in the PM’s schedule," said the source.

Mahathir will turn 93 years old tomorrow.

The event was initially scheduled to take place on July 22 at a restaurant in Pudu, Kuala Lumpur.

The organisers had invited 2,000 Chinese guild representatives and had planned to contribute RM100,000 to Tabung Harapan Malaysia.

Federation of Chinese Guilds and Associations lifetime honorary president Liew Poon Siak, who is one of the main organisers, said he has yet to be informed by the PMO on whether Mahathir would turn up.

“For now, I don’t know that (Mahathir is not able to come). I will wait for the PMO’s notification.

“The last notification we received was saying that it may be postponed. The date was not confirmed but it will not be in July," he told Malaysiakini.

Liew is also seen as a controversial figure in the Chinese community. 

He was responsible for the formation of the Kuala Lumpur Chinese Assembly Hall (KLCAH), a splinter of the Kuala Lumpur-Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH).