Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's open letter to Umno grassroots leaders and members has drawn flak from a pro-Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak portal.

"Enough (Cukuplah)," read a letter published on MyKMU.net .

The writer said while Mahathir warned about the possibility of Umno being defeated in the next general election, he did not guarantee a victory if Najib stepped down either.

"This is just a hypothesis by Tun (Mahathir) on seeing the boat leaking. The question is, should the passengers of the boat listen to Tun, the person responsible for the leak?

"It is unfair for Tun to create the leak and also provide a way to save the boat. This is called conflict of interest," he added.

The writer likened Mahathir's attitude to the kongsi gelap or secret society which causes chaos in a particular area and then offers a way to resolve the matter.

'Culture created by Mahathir'

He also took issue with Mahathir's assertion that Umno has become the party president's property and its struggle is simply to support the party president which is currently Najib.

The writer said if Umno is seen as belonging to the party president, this was a culture created by Mahathir himself when he founded Umno Baru.

"Najib is only continuing the tradition of the Umno president's powers which Tun himself created and legitimised," he said.

He pointed out that when Mahathir set up Umno Baru in 1988, he disregarded the party election results the year before and appointed loyalists to the party's leadership.

"Has Tun forgotten when he sacked Anwar Ibrahim, the then deputy prime minister and deputy president who was the most popular in Umno's history, he had reminded that loyalty to the party meant supporting the president's decision?

"How many people who did not agree with Tun's decision did Umno sack at that time?" he said.