Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has dismissed allegations that he betrayed Umno by teaming up with former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad to condemn the use of the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act against 1MDB critics.

"Who's betraying the party?” he responded when the question was posed.

"I appeared (with Mahathir) not because of any other matters other than on restriction of freedom of movement," he told reporters outside the Dewan Rakyat today.

Razaleigh raised eyebrows when he joined Mahathir, Muhyiddin Yassin, Shafie Apdal, Sanusi Junid and Ong Tee Keat to criticise the use of Sosma against Umno man Khairuddin Abu Hassan and his lawyer Matthias Chang.

Khairuddin ( photo ) and Matthias Chang were hauled up for filing reports against 1MDB and accused of sabotaging the nation’s economy.

"When Sosma was tabled in Parliament for approval, it was assured that this act will not limit the freedom of people or the citizens, we are going for terrorists," the Gua Musang MP said.

The government has however denied abusing Sosma to stifle dissent, and insists that Khairuddin and Chang had committed a serious offence.

Besides Sosma, Razaleigh, better known as Ku Li, had also spoken about the difficulties of pushing for a vote of no confidence during the press conference with Mahathir.

He later said BN lawmakers had a right to vote down Budget 2016 if they believed that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak needs to go.