PAKATAN Harapan leader Dr Mahathir Mohamad urged Umno members nationwide to reconsider their support for party president Najib Razak.

In a letter dated April 17, addressed to Umno members across Malaysia, the PH chairman said Umno, once a noble party, had become a party hated by the majority of the Malays.

“You can deny it, but the fact remains that the party led by Najib is not the old Umno.

“Its function now is to legitimise all of Najib’s crimes so that he remains the prime minister of Malaysia,” he said.

Dr Mahathir said the people were burdened by the high costs of living, the goods and services tax, low petrol subsidies, and many others.

“Your support for Najib will worsen the condition of our beloved country.

“Can you not see that from a country that was looked up to by the world, Malaysia has now become a corrupted country led by a criminal laughed at by the world?” he asked.

He said Bersatu was challenging Umno not because Bersatu was against it, but rather because it was no longer the Umno of old.

Dr Mahathir joined Umno in 1946 and resigned in 2016.

He had sent another letter two weeks later to the generals of the armed forces, urging them to allow their charges and their spouses to vote freely on May 9. – May 3, 2018.