Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad has meticulously replied to a large number of fresh criticisms and also defended his attempts of holding Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak accountable.

"With regard to my political agenda, what is wrong with that?" asked Mahathir in the latest posting on his blog chedet.cc.

"A Prime Minister must be seen to be clean and able to explain and answer questions and to be good for the country.

"Najib cannot even answer and has not answered any question, beyond exercising elegant silence or saying the allegations are not true."

Last Thursday, Mahathir's scathing blog post had claimed that Najib was being bogged by a slew of answered allegations and claimed that it will result in BN's defeat during the next general election.

Among others, Mahathir questioned the abscence of a motive behind the murder of Altantuya Shariibuu, unanswered questions regarding the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal, the perceived lavish lifestyle of Najib's family and the purchase of a new jet to ferry the premier.

Following this, backbenchers and BN leaders scrambled to Najib's defence.

1MDB is nothing like Temasek

One key critic was former Sabah chief minister Salleh Keruak, who likened 1MDB to Singapore's Temasek Holdings, arguing that the public must be patient for 1MDB to bear fruit.

Mahathir, who ruled Malaysia for 22 years, said that there were no similarities whatsoever between Temasek and 1MDB.

"Temasek did not lose money but money borrowed by 1MDB has disappeared.

"1MDB is not excess fund belonging to the government. 1MDB borrowed all its billions. Borrowed money cannot be regarded as wealth.

"So far the only asset owned by 1MDB are the pieces of land bought from the government at a price very much below market price.

"They have been highly revalued. But until they are sold, they cannot be used to pay the RM42 billion the 1MDB borrowed. They cannot even pay the interest," wrote Mahathir.

On Salleh's likening Low Taek Jho's ties to Najib's family with Mahathir's relationship with Ananda Krishnan and Daim Zainuddin, the former premier said he failed to see "any similarity".

"Ananda Krishnan bought the race course in Jalan Ampang. He could develop this prime land by himself. But he decided to sell one half share of the 100 acres land to Petronas and developed it together.

"Later he sold his tower to Petronas. What is wrong with that? Petronas made tons of money from the project," he said.

PM's track record

On allegations that he was now siding with the opposition, Mahathir said that this was nothing more than an attempt to divert attention from issues that he has raised.

"If saying something that is similar to the opposition makes me aligned with the opposition, then Najib must be more with the opposition than me.

"He agreed with the opposition to abolish the ISA, the prevention of crime law and ignore the NEP. He also wanted to abolish the Sedition Act as demanded by the opposition.

"If Umno did not object the Sedition Act would have been abolished. So is Najib a member of the opposition?" he asked.

Mahathir said that despite his criticisms against Najib, he was still loyal to Umno and wants to see the party win in the next election.

However, Najib's track record during the 2013 general election showed BN lost more ground in Selangor and a large number of seats elsewhere were won with small majorities.

"He did even worse than Abdullah, losing more badly in Selangor where he was the head of Umno. Thre are so many scandals surrounding him now.

"His popularity is now even lower than when he led the BN in 2013.

"(Thus) is it too absurd to predict defeat for the BN in 2018?" he asked.

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