Doors never failed to open for Dr Mahathir Mohamad during his 22-year tenure as prime minister.

However, the situation is different now, with him having embarked on a campaign to oust Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

According to Mahathir, halls cannot be secured to hold meetings attended by him as the owners fear being "abused" by the government.

"I am not contesting for any posts (in Umno).

"But diligent efforts are made to keep me quiet, to prevent me from meeting Umno members and even the people," he said in a blog post.

Mahathir, who was party president for 22 years, said there is a culture of fear spreading in the party and this had to do with the ongoing criticisms against the government.

However, he said, Malaysia is said to be a democratic country.

“But anyone who sabotages democracy can be imprisoned for up to 15 years. In reality, the one who sabotages democracy in Malaysia is the present government itself,” he said, adding many undemocratic pressures are utilised (to suppress democracy).

Mahathir said there are those who have their incomes inspected for allegedly not paying tax and there were others who were questioned by the police.

“There are those who are detained without legal basis and others threatened with having their contracts revoked.

Using the Malay proverb berani kerana benar; takut kerana salah (brave because it's right, afraid because it's wrong), the former premier asked whether because someone is fearful, it is therefor now wrong for the 1MDB and RM2.6 billion issues to be raised during the Umno assembly,

The assembly is slated to run from Dec 8 to 12.