The rakyat should not be fooled into trusting former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad again, warned PKR Youth chief Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad.

Nik Nazmi said even though Mahathir is actively fighting against Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak now, the people should not forget the former PM's past sins.

"We can thank him for speaking out for freedom of speech, the supremacy of the rule of law and corruption today.

"But we will not forget who crippled our democracy [...] who was responsible for the early mega scandals to affect our country.

"We will not forget who tortured and slandered (former deputy premier) Anwar Ibrahim. We will not forget who was the PM when the rakyat was oppressed while demanding for reformasi ," Nik Nazmi said in his policy speech at the PKR Youth congress today.

The PKR leader also used Mahathir's ( photo ) own words against him.

"Mahathir said 'bad leaders are born in an abused democracy'. As such, we have to realise that the prime minister we have today was born from a democracy that was abused, including by Mahathir himself," Nik Nazmi said.

He then cited a popular quip that it is crazy to repeat the same action many times and expect to see different results.

When met after his speech, Nik Nazmi said PKR should cooperate with Mahathir if it means taking down Najib, but stuck with his warning.

"We will consider working with Mahathir (against Najib), but we must not forget what he has done in the past," he said.