POKOK SENA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Opposition chief Mahathir Mohamad's visit to the grave of Datuk Fadzil Noor here in Kedah is a sign of his "awakening" and shows he is willing to make amends, said the late PAS president's son.

Muhammad Faiz Fadzil, who is contesting the Permatang Pasir state seat in Penang, said the family had long wished for the former premier to realise the error of his ways.

"Tun M and my late father had been on different political ends and direction, but now he has shown willingness to visit my father's grave and that is a sign of respect," said Muhammad Faiz, who is the deputy Youth chief of Parti Amanah Negara.

He said this after Pakatan Harapan (PH) leader Mahathir's visit to the grave in Muassasah Darul Ulum here on Saturday (May 5).

The visit came soon after Tun Dr Mahathir came under fire for his comments in a ceramah on May 3, over the 14 killed in the 1985 Memali incident, where he had labelled their deaths as "mati katak" (dying in vain).

However, the statement caused an uproar and the veteran statesman apologised the very next day.

Muhammad Faiz denied that the visit was politically engineered to gain sympathy votes from supporters of Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS), which had broken away with the main opposition coalition.

"My father and Tun M had a good relationship, especially when Tun M was thrown out of Umno in the 1960s. They shared the same stage during ceramahs at the time.

"It does not have anything to do with political mileage, Tun M would have come even if he was not an election candidate," he said.