Dr Mahathir Mohamad said that his hand-picked successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has turned the country into a police state.

The current atmosphere, he said, was preventing him from publicly airing his grievances toward the government.

"The habit of asking police to frighten people should be stopped," the Associated Press quoted Mahathir as saying in a press conference in his residence in Seri Kembangan near Kuala Lumpur today.

"I consider this a police state. I also consider my civic rights have been taken away," he added.

The former prime minister said that he had been told by many Umno branch leaders that they received calls from the police ordering them not to invite him to speak at gatherings.

At least 10 such invitations were withdrawn in recent weeks, he added.

Mahathir said that even though he faced criticisms from human rights groups and opposition activists, accusing him of clamping down on dissent during his 22 years in power, he nevertheless had never stopped anyone from speaking out.

He said Umno members had always been free to criticise him.

He also said that his views today were often censored by the media.

"I am not allowed to speak to anybody. I know I'm speaking to the Press now."

"I know the New Straits Times will have to make some kind of spin about this, TV3 too will have to spin somehow, but fortunately for us that in my time, we have the Internet, so I would advise people to read the Internet and not these newspapers because they are all getting phone calls," he added.

Legacy destroyed

On a question if he thought his legacy was being tarnished by his continued attacks on Abdullah, Mahathir said: "It is not being chipped away by the controversy, but it is being chipped away by the government."

He continued blaming Abdullah for mismanaging the country's economy, saying that he had been told by many Chinese businessmen that they would rather invest in China than domestically.

"Governments which are sensitive will take action" following criticism, he said.

He also said that he will continue with his criticism of the government even though he "didn't give (Abdullah) any ultimatum" during their two-hour meeting yesterday.

Abdullah's office has indicated the leader would not respond to Mahathir's comments for now.

Mahathir's remarks, coming just after the reconciliation meeting, signalled the failure of the closed-door meeting to resolve months of acrimonious attacks by the former premier against Abdullah's three-year-old administration.