DR Mahathir Mohamad took another dig at Najib Razak today, saying that it was “amusing” to hear the prime minister urging Malaysians to have high cultural and moral values when corruption under the current administration was at an all-time high.

Writing in his blog Chedet, Dr Mahathir said there were reports of senior civil servants stashing away hundreds of millions of ringgit, which “obviously had been acquired corruptly”.

The former prime minister said far from achieving higher moral values, it seems the values have deteriorated under Najib.

“Morality and culture are going from bad to worse. Merely introducing a new slogan about transformation in 33 years is not going to spin Malaysians around to possess high cultural and moral values,” Dr Mahathir said.

The nation’s longest ruling prime minister said Najib had tarnished the reputation of Malaysia through the 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Bhd) scandal and accused the latter of not showing leadership by example and instead believing that “cash is king”.

“He apparently believes in doing what ‘I tell you to do and not what I do’.

“But whether he believes in leadership by example or not, his followers cannot help but look up to him as their model. Accordingly, his Umno followers have become as corrupt and immoral as him.”

Dr Mahathir also said Najib could not be held up as an example of a person of high moral values, and that the latter’s actions had caused Malaysia to be classified as one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

The 92-year-old also questioned why no action had been taken against Najib when other countries like Brazil and South Korea had acted against their presidents on “mere suspicion of corruption”.

“Worse still is the fact that he is still the prime minister of Malaysia. In Brazil and South Korea, mere suspicion of corruption has resulted in suspension and arrest. But in Malaysia, Najib is safe and is brazenly telling Malaysians to be honest, and demanding the world respect his corrupt country.”

On April 14, Najib told a gathering of social media activists at a function held in Umno’s headquarters in Putra World Trade Centre that he was not afraid whether he was being attacked by Dr Mahathir, Lim Kit Siang or Rafizi Ramli.

Najib also said he was ready to go on the offensive and “nothing is sacred” as he sounded the rallying cry at the gathering.

Although, there are no clues as to when the next elections will be called, both sides have ramped up their efforts by oiling their election machineries and late-night ceramah.

Pakatan Harapan will hold another ceramah in Pandan tonight with Dr Mahathir, former minister Sanusi Junid, Pandan MP Rafizi, Mohamad Sabu and Selangor lawmaker Tiew Way Keng.

1MDB, which is Najib’s brainchild, is at the centre of a graft and money-laundering probe involving six countries – the United States, Switzerland, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Luxembourg. – April 19, 2017.