Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM) chairperson Badrul Hisham Shaharin believes that Dr Mahathir Mohamad is afraid of the criticisms towards the latter.

According to him, this is the reason the former premier labelled him a "kucing kurap (insignificant)".

"He insulted me, but I don’t feel insulted. He panicked, he is pressured by our campaign and therefore has to resort to harsh language.

"This means, Mahathir embarrassed himself," the suspended PKR member told a press conference in Petaling Jaya today.

Badrul, who is popularly known as Chegubard, was responding to Mahathir's criticism of him during a closed-door meeting with NGOs in Putrajaya yesterday.

The former premier said this when quizzed if he would accept Badrul’s invitation for another "Nothing2Hide" dialogue session.

As for the meeting with NGOs, Badrul said it was attended by Mahathir's "cheerleaders, apple polishers and those who benefitted from him".

Meanwhile, Badrul also announced that a book titled "Wajah Sebenar Mahathir (Mahathir's real face)" has been published.

The book details the allegations of wrongdoings against the former premier during his 22-years in office.

Badrul said 40,000 copies have been printed and would be distributed nationwide, especially to civil servants.

Responding to a question, he also explained the reason for criticising Mahathir when most people were attacking Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

"This is because a lot of people are already attacking Najib. I want to tell Malaysians that Mahathir is not a hero," he said.