If Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia disagreed with Dr Mahathir Mohamad's policies when he was in power, why did he not oppose the then prime minister?

This was the question posed by Mahathir's stalwart Khairuddin Abu Hassan.

Khairuddin was responding to Pandikar's demand that Mahathir apologise for repealing the Parliament Services Act in 1992, which blurred the lines between the legislative and executive arms.

"Why did Pandikar only raise this after decades? Why did he remain silent when he was part of Parliament?" asked Khairuddin.

Pandikar served as a member of the Upper House between 1999 to 2001 and was appointed Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in Mahathir's government.

Khairuddin claimed this was symptomatic of leaders who take "animal feed" from the top leadership.

"Whoever their current boss is, they will suck up to them. They follow blindly.

"Even though they disagree, but for the sake of position and money, they are okay with everything.

"But when they come under a new boss, they raise decades-old issues," he said.

In contrast, Khairuddin, who was sacked as Batu Kawan Umno vice chief, said he chose to oppose Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Mahathir has been on a war path against Najib, accusing him of corruption in the 1MDB scandal and vowing to unseat him as prime minister.

Mahathir had also criticised Pandikar for allegedly trying to scuttle the debate on 1MDB in Parliament.

Najib had denied wrongdoing or taking public funds for personal gain.