Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad used the late Johor ruler, Sultan Iskandar Sultan Ismail, to oust the then lord president of the Supreme Court, Salleh Abbas, in 1988.

Tunku Abdul Majid Idris Iskandar, who is the son of the late Johor sultan and the state's Tunku Bendahara, says this in a Facebook posting.

Tunku Majid was responding to Mahathir's claim last Saturday that Sultan Iskandar, who was the Yang-di-Pertuan Agong at that time, had an axe to grind with the lord president.

Mahathir, who is widely blamed for Salleh's sacking, said he had to take the fall even though it was Sultan Iskandar who was upset with Salleh.

"Mahathir used my father to remove Salleh, period. Salleh is a good man and my father acknowledged that.

"He (Sultan Iskandar) had already made his peace with Tun Salleh ( photo ).

"Mahathir, please don't blame people who can't defend themselves anymore," Tunku Majid said.

Mahathir had claimed that Sultan Iskandar was angry with Salleh for complaining about noises from his palace in a letter that was copied to all the sultans in the country.

Also weighing into this was Tunku Majid's sister, Tunku Azizah Aminah Sultan Iskandar, who said the noise did not come from the Johor palace, which at that time was on Jalan Kia Peng in Kuala Lumpur.

"At that time Salleh was living in Jalan Conlay, the official residence of the lord president.

"It was not renovation at Istana Johor in Jalan Kia Peng, it was the piling of the foundation works for Conlay Court Apartment that was so noisy, being right next to Salleh's house.

"Istana Johor on Jalan Kia Peng was also disturbed by piling sounds that went in the whole day," Tunku Azizah said.

She added that her late father had also helped Salleh when he fell into bad times.

"My father bought his (Salleh's) house (personal residence) on Jalan Damai when he had financial problems," she said.

Mahathir had made the claim against the late Sultan Iskandar after he was quizzed about his role in undermining the country's judiciary in a talk by the Cooler Lumpur Festival 2015 last Saturday.

Salleh's sacking in 1988 was widely seen as a retaliation by Mahathir for a court ruling that led to the deregistration of Umno as a political party.