DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang today suggested that ex premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad has a "personal stake" in demonising the Bersih 3.0 protest to ensure the BN's continued hold on power, so scandals during his tenure cannot be exposed.

"Could it be that it has sunk in on him after the Bersih 3.0 rally that Umno and the BN can be voted out of power in Putrajaya in the next general election.

NONE "This means that the long list of financial scandals and abuses of power in his 22 years as prime minister could finally be the subject of a full inquiry and he is doing his utmost to prevent the full story of his 22-year premiership from being told?" Lim ( left ) said in a press statement today.

Mahathir had yesterday in a blog posting said that the Bersih 3.0 protest was mere a "warm up" by Pakatan Rakyat for violent demonstrations to reject the results of the next polls if it is unable to capture Putrajaya.

Unlike Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, Mahathir has realised the implications of the Bersih 3.0 rally which drew hundreds of thousands on the streets for clean an fair election, he said.

"This realisation has created in Mahathir a new sense of desperation reflected not only by his blog yesterday but also his scare-mongering in Kedah last week that the defeat of Umno in the next general election would be akin to Malays losing political power in their own country," he said.

This, Lim said, has prompted Mahathir to engage in fear mongering allegations on a scale that "must rank as among his most outrageous and preposterous statements" of his political life.