BEIJING, Nov 10: Former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad said on Wednesday he feared things would become "worse and worse" during the second term of US President George Bush.

"It is very likely that this idea about pre-emption, about regime change, about enforcing democracy, applying sanctions, these things are going to be seen perhaps more and more in the next four years," he said in Beijing.

"Things are going to get worse and worse. That is my view, I hope I'm wrong," he told the Businessweek CEO Forum in the Chinese capital.

After Mr Bush was re-elected for a second term, Mr Mahathir referred to his administration as "an old leadership with an old mindset" that had done nothing good to the United States or to the rest of the world.-AFP