Second Finance Minister Johari Abdul Ghani today attributed policies implemented during the 22 years when Dr Mahathir Mohamad was premier, as the catalyst to his success in life.

But even so, Johari told the Cheras Umno delegates at its division meeting at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur, his loyalty towards Umno under prime minister Najib Abdul Razak has not wavered.

"Who does not love Tun Mahathir? I am a product of his times...I was a boy born and raised in the squatter area. My mother (went to school until) Standard Three and my father to Standard Six.

"Mahathir's leadership in developing the country allowed a boy from the slums like me to study overseas, become a chartered accountant and contribute to the nation," said the Federal Territories Umno treasurer in his speech.

Johari, who is also Titiwangsa MP and division chief, said this in commending Umno Cheras division chief Syed Ali Alhabshi whom he described as a staunch Mahathir supporter, but has similarly remained loyal to Umno.

"I see him (Syed Ali) as a division leader who, when he talks about the party, it's straight from his heart.

"Those who do not understand will think that he has 'turned' a full 360 degrees from being a staunch Mahathir supporter, but when the new party was formed, he remained with Umno," said Johari.

Johari also described Syed Ali as being like a brother figure who had assisted in his rise within Umno's tanks.

Since quitting from Umno in February this year, Mahathir had rallied support for his anti-Najib movement via the Save Malaysia Declaration and formation of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, together with former Umno No 2 Muhyiddin Yassin.

In his opening speech, Syed Ali also pledged his unwavering loyalty to Umno, come what may.

"I was born in an Umno family. I will not leave Umno no matter what happens to our party," he stressed.

In Cheras, Syed Ali said he initially shifted from the Bukit Bintang Umno division and later contested for the division chief's post in 1995, but lost with 10 votes.

He however won the post in 1998 and has remained as Cheras division chief until today.

This, Syed Ali said, was despite him not being the Cheras MP - as the parliamentary seat is traditionally contested by MCA.

'1MDB a politicised business'

Earlier in speech, Johari also took the opportunity to reiterate the government's narrative that problems surrounding state-investor 1MDB was largely linked to its poor business model and overall bad governance.

While stressing the government's commitment to ensure that any party responsible would be held accountable for the losses, Johari also said investigations on related matters should be allowed to continue without undue influence.

When met later and asked how he could detach Najib from 1MDB's poor decision making process, Johari merely said: "I do not want to give (Petaling Jaya Utara) MP Tony Pua more ammunition."

"This is a democratic country and he can continue to say whatever he wants. No need to split hairs.

"At the end of the day we want to solve the problem...," he said.

All Malaysian authorities probing 1MDB have cleared Najib of all wrongdoing.

Critics, however, claimed that Najib has been identified as the unnamed "Malaysian Official 1" mentioned 36 times in United States Department of Justice's civil suit to recover nearly US$1 billion in assets linked to 1MDB.