Dr Mahathir Mohamad had better watch out! His legacy is about to be reclaimed by Najib Abdul Razak. Mahathir's protégé is like a runaway train, and is unstoppable. Neither he, former cabinet ministers, nor the opposition, are anywhere near ousting Najib. Najib is ‘The Chosen One’ .

First. Najib’s bid to cling on to power was made into a personal conquest when he removed Mukhriz, the former Kedah menteri besar. Kedah is Mahathir’s domain, but Najib trumped him.

Second. Najib now claims that he saved Mahathir’s hide when the original Umno was deregistered in 1988. Mahathir was seen as a pariah in the eyes of the world when a High Court judge declared Umno to be an illegal party because of the cheating in an internal election.

Third. Najib has graduated with flying colours from the Mahathir school of divide and rule. Najib may have acted like the dunce in the corner, but he knows that in 2016, nothing and no one can touch him.

Malaysia is a nation in purgatory. We have to thank Mahathir for removing the independence of the public institutions like the judiciary, which would have provided the checks and balances needed to curb abuses of power.

We cannot move forwards as a united, multicultural Malaysia to enjoy the social and economic benefits of working together. Neither are we yet a nation from hell, like Somalia, Afghanistan, or Zimbabwe, scraping around for scraps in the dirt, although we are quickly falling towards damnation.

Najib was wallowing in self-praise when he claimed that in 1988, as Umno Youth leader, he helped to recruit members for Mahathir’s new party, Umno Baru.

In a swipe at Mahathir, Najib wondered if Mahathir had forgotten about his help and said, “He didn’t have the support of almost 80 percent of Umno members at the time and it was his doing that led to Umno being banned by the court.

“But who helped? It was Umno Youth at the time. We worked hard and I handed him thousands of new membership applications. If not, Umno, which was changed to Umno Baru, would have been stillborn.

“I’m not sure lah if he remembers that.”

Mahathir has not forgotten, but there are many Malaysians who do not know about the events which led to the formation of Umno Baru.

Roots in 1987 Umno election

The ‘Constitutional Crisis of 1988' has its roots in the internal Umno election of 1987, when Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah challenged Mahathir for the Umno presidency.

Mahathir had ‘won’ by a mere 43 votes, but after a legal challenge, it was found that 30 unapproved branches, in four divisions, had voted.

If these unapproved branches had been excluded, Tengku Razaleigh may have won, and would have altered the course of Malaysian history.

With the irregularities in voting, the High Court declared Umno an unlawful society. Mahathir was livid. He was the laughing stock of the world, and his position was precarious. He was prime minister, but his party had been judged illegal. Malaysia held its breath, and the world’s eyes were trained on Mahathir.

In typical Mahathir style, he formed a new party, brushed aside criticism and pushed through the formation of Umno Baru. He then allegedly proceeded to transfer the assets of the ‘original’ Umno to Umno Baru.

Mahathir was allowed to do this because everyone in Umno Baru was only interested in preserving his or her own personal agenda.

Today, Najib claims to be instrumental that he helped Mahathir to make Umno Baru a success.

What is there to be proud about in Umno Baru? More to the point, when Mahathir allegedly transferred the assets from the old Umno to form Umno Baru, Najib was complicit in this ‘grand farce’. Others may call it something other than a grand farce.

Mahathir continued his attack on the judiciary with the sacking of Salleh Abas and other senior judges in 1988. The former PM emasculated the judiciary and this PM capitalised on it.

Both Tunku Abdul Rahman and Hussein Onn declined membership of Umno Baru.

Last week Mohamad Sabu blamed us for our cowardice . The opposition can only do so much. Their hands are tied by institutions which are allegedly rigged to favour Umno Baru.

So will the rakyat, in particular the Malays, stop tolerating corruption and start taking little steps out of their comfort zones, and vote for change?

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a defender of the truth, the admiral-general of the Green Bean Army and president of the Perak Liberation Organisation (PLO). Blog , Twitter .