Dr Mahathir Mohamad has declared that democracy is dead under Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.
"It is dead because an elected leader chooses to subvert the institutions of government and make them his instruments for sustaining himself.
"There is no more democracy for anyone to undermine," he said in a blog post.
Mahathir was commenting on police investigations on several individuals under Section 124B of the Penal Code for activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy.
The probe concerns the leaking of classified documents pertaining to the 1MDB probe and the allegation of a plot to topple Najib.
However, Mahathir said it is the prime minister who should be investigated.
"Certainly talking about 1MDB will not undermine something that no longer exist (democracy).
"If anyone should be questioned by the police, it is Najib," he added.
In the last two weeks Najib had also removed Muhyiddin Yassin ( photo ) as his deputy, Abdul Gani Patail as attorney-general, and four BN lawmakers from the Public Accounts Committee, including its chief Nur Jazlan Mohamad.
However Mahathir himself has been accused of subverting democracy, most notably during the 1988 constitutional crisis, when he sacked lord president of the Supreme Court Salleh Abbas and two other Supreme Court judges.
Nonetheless, he described Najib's actions as unprecedented.
"The prospect of Najib continuing to rule this country is utterly depressing."
The Malaysia where elections can even see opposition parties winning whole states will be no more," he added, claiming that Najib now free to rig the next elections with his RM2.6 billion donation.
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