After having held back from criticising Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak during the holy month of Ramadan, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today launched a Hari Raya Eve salvo on Najib.

Mahathir lamented that Najib would not listen to him but was more keen in listening to Penang-born billionaire Jho Low and Singapore.

He even went on to describe Najib as a "proxy" of these quarters.

"Najib has his own advisers, including three Brits. He paid foreign consultants to advise him on government matters.

"He also asked Singapore whether he should build the bridge or the high-speed train. When Singapore said no, he shelved those projects.

"Jho Low is his friend and seems to have considerable hold on him.

"The fact is that he is their proxy not mine. If he had behaved as my proxy there would have been no 1MDB etc," Mahathir wrote in his blog posting today.

In the last month, Mahathir had only touched on the 1MDB scandal plaguing Najib and had avoided directly attacking the prime minister despite being highly critical of Najib before the month of Ramadan began.

Elaborating on claims that he was out to get Najib for not listening to him, Mahathir said he if this was true, he would not have campaigned for Najib in the 13th general election.

‘Not the reason I want him to step down’

“It is true when Najib says he did not do what I advised him to do. But that is not the reason why I want him to step down.

"Everyone knows that I campaigned for him in the 13th general election, even though he refused to build the bridge (to Singapore), or the double-tracking and electrification of the railways.

"He also did not accept my views that BR1M and carrying placards 'I Love PM', '1M4U', etc, should be stopped.

"Nor did he accept many other things I told him not to do or to do if he wanted to be popular. He says ‘Cash is King’.

"Still I supported him during the 13th general election and after," he said.

However, Maahthir said, he only began his call to ask Najib to step down after the 1MDB issue boiled over.