Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak is a child of his mentor Dr Mahathir Mohamad when it comes to human rights abuses, Human Rights Watch (HRW) Asia division executive director Brad Adams said.

"Najib is, in a way, a child of Mahathir. The tactics are systemic, the laws are on the books waiting to be used when the time is right," Adams said today in the release of the HRW report titled 'Creating A Culture of Fear: The Criminalisation of Peaceful Expression in Malaysia' in Kuala Lumpur.

Former prime minister Mahathir was the one who opened up the country to human rights abuses during his 22 years of premiership, he said.

"Mahathir is the father of this mess in Malaysia. And for him to stand up in public and complain about lack of free speech is really unacceptable. He should just be quiet or apologise for what he's done," he said.

Since last year, Mahathir had been a vocal critic of Najib and his brainchild 1MDB as well as the abuses of the law under his administration.

HRW legal consultant Linda Lakhdhir also said that their findings showed that the government tends to be creative in cracking down on dissent.

"The government, when it can't use one law, will find another to use," she said.

'Free-for-all'

The government has used a variety of laws to silence critics such as the Sedition Act, the Printing Presses and Publications Act, the Communications and Multimedia Act and of late, Section 124 of the Penal Code, Lakhdhir said.

Adams said it was now a ‘free-for-all’ for the authorities to crack down on any dissent.

"Writing this report, it became a challenge to keep up with the number of cases cropping up," he said.

Asked if the government would even care about criticisms of its administration as contained in this HRW report, Adams said the government was actually concerned about its image.

"Najib presents himself as a liberal reformer; he travels around the world, talking about a tolerant society.

"He comes home and is very different."