Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad today revealed it was Umno Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah who had allegedly proposed to oust Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak through a no-confidence vote in Parliament.

However, lamented Mahathir, Razaleigh is now supporting the PM instead.

"He has changed his stance. Perhaps he thinks supporting someone who has lost RM42 billion (through 1MDB) is good; that is his right.

"In the end, he proposed bringing down Najib (but) ended up supporting Najib," he told a press conference in Putrajaya today.

Mahathir was responding to Tengku Razaleigh, better known as Ku Li, on Thursday signing a declaration pledging support for Najib.

Tengku Razaleigh was previously touted as the choice for interim prime minister if Najib were to be ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament.

'Ku Li betrayed me again'

Mahathir related how Tengku Razaleigh had allegedly told him that a no-confidence vote would be tabled to take down Najib, and that he had proceeded to circulate a no-confidence declaration among the MPs.

"He said he could get a majority, but he couldn't," he said.

Asked if Mahathir felt betrayed by Tengku Razaleigh, the former prime minister said this was not the first time it had happened.

"I have been betrayed by him many times. When he lost in the (party) election (in 1987), he sued the party and took it to court.

"The court then declared Umno illegal. I had to spend a lot of time to rebuild the party.

"But he did not join (the newly re-registered) Umno and instead formed Semangat 46.

"So what can we hope for, coming from someone like him?" said the veteran leader.

Takes jab at Pak Lah

On a separate matter, Mahathir sarcastically commended his successor former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi replacing him as Petronas adviser.

"He is very qualified to be an adviser. I hope he'll be a British adviser, and not a Malay adviser.

"In the past, we had British advisers. When they (the British) advise, it is considered as an order.

"For Malay advisers, they give advice and people just forget about it," quipped Mahathir.

Najib's cabinet sacked Mahathir from Petronas on March 11 for trying to "topple the government".