Famed for penning the 'Malay Dilemma', Dr Mahathir Mohamad is now facing a dilemma himself.
The former premier is wondering if should continue attacking the Umno president which is to Pakatan Rakyat's benefit or sit back and let someone he considers "unworthy for the premiership" remain in office.
Explaining his decision in a lengthy blog post, he said attacking (Prime Minister) Najib (Abdul Razak) is a risk worth taking because he "cannot accept Pakatan ruling Malaysia".
"I realise that our rival party will take advantage of my not supporting Najib. But if Najib leads BN, BN will lose in the 14 th general election.
" Luah mati mak, telan mati bapak ," he said, citing a Malay proverb which literally means 'if you spit it out your mother dies, but if you swallow it, your father dies'.
His scathing blog post comes after Najib yesterday reminded the former premier that he helped keep Mahathir in power during the Umno leadership crisis in 1987.
Najib said that since he had helped Mahathir, the least the ex-premier could do was to hold his tongue.
Mahathir said a Pakatan victory in the next GE will "cause chaos".
"I cannot accept Pakatan ruling this country […] There will be chaos if Pakatan takes over the federal government.
"The country's development will be affected and people of all races will suffer," he said.
He said DAP prioritises the Chinese, while PAS' Islamic identity is only for political convenience "and not true Islam".
"This is why PAS declares Umno apostates for cooperating with non-Muslims, but then goes on to embrace non-Muslims.
"And PKR only exists so (its de facto leader) Anwar Ibrahim can become prime minister," he said.
Mahathir said Najib left him with no choice but to air dirty laundry in public.
He said he wrote a letter to Najib expressing his concern over the handling of state investment firm 1Malaysia Development Bhd a year ago, but to no avail.
"Najib only instructed those close to him to get me to retract the letter.
"Since the letter did not manage to show how I have pulled back support, I had to make this clear (dedah) myself," he said.
