With his trademark sarcasm, Dr Mahathir Mohamad has accused the police of preventing Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak from giving the people of Malaysia full democratic freedom.

The 92-year-old former premier said this in a blog posting, where he described the Malaysian police as being “sungguh jahat” (extremely malicious).

He claimed that while Najib and the ministers did not obstruct the planned debate between him and minister Nazri Abdul Aziz, lower-ranked police officers however were a stumbling block.

“Apparently a school cannot be used (for the debate), apparently there will be rioting, there are protests from public and whatnot.

“The IGP (inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar) has no objections. He said this is not police business. It is the district police officers who are not giving permission (for the debate),” he added.

Mahathir said these police officers also do not have respect for Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed, who supported the debate.

“It is as if the lower ranked police officers have taken over the country.

“The government, ministers and Najib are very democratic, want to give the people full freedom. But the police are a hindrance. The police are very bad,” he added.

Following this, he said the IGP himself has to bow to his officers' decision.

Mahathir also noted how Finance Minister II Johari Abdul Ghani had suggested that the debate be held in a hotel.

“This is how keen the government is in seeing the debate take place. The organiser has not accepted this good proposal (from Johari).

“Don't blame Najib's democratic government if the debate is not held. Don't blame Nazri, because this minister offered Antartica (as a venue for the debate) and the penguins who support me cannot afford to go there. I cannot leave this democratic nation for long,” he said.

Yesterday, Nazri, who is tourism and culture minister, had criticised the police for withdrawing its permission for the debate to be held at the Karangkraf building in Shah Alam on April 7.

He suggested that the debate be held at the Cheras police auditorium instead or be moved to a foreign location such as London, Greenwich or Antartica, where the penguins do not speak Bahasa Malaysia or English and therefore, there would be no security risk.

Previously, the debate was to be held at the Maktab Rendah Sains Mara (MRSM) Kuala Kangsar on March 25, but the police refused to give the green light.

Meanwhile, Mahathir said the police had previously intervened in the “Nothing to Hide” forum in June, 2015.

“Najib lost the opportunity to tell how his Arab friend gave him RM2.6 billion and whispered that it should be put in his personal account, and to spend it as he chose without anyone's knowledge.

“Because the IGP prevented Najib (from attending the forum), the prime minister could not clear his name over the baseless allegations,” he added.

Among others, the debate between Najib and Nazri was to touch on the 1MDB issue and the RM2.6 billion, which has been described as a donation to the prime minister from a Saudi royalty.

Najib has repeatedly denied abusing public funds for personal gain, and blamed such allegations on Mahathir and those conspiring to topple him from power.

Attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali has also cleared the prime minister of any wrongdoing.