In a cryptic post on his "chedet" blog, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has taken a veiled swipe at those who are hesitant to voice their objections to the emergency declaration.

"We try to get as many people as possible to give an opinion on the emergency. Many of them think the emergency is not necessary and they cite several reasons why they think so."

However, he said that while these people understood why the emergency is objectionable, they were in fear of expressing their opinions.

"They are in fear and only voice their opinions in hushed tones while looking around. And they also do not want...