Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s name has become the most-searched keyword on Google Malaysia since his resignation from Umno in protest against party president Najib Abdul Razak’s leadership on Monday.

Mahathir’s ascent to the top of the Google chart is not something new. According to Google Trends (www.google.com.my/trends), Mahathir-related searches had previously topped the Google list on five other occasions in the past 10 years.

‘ Mahathir’ was the Google Malaysia search champion in April 2005 when Mahathir attended a ‘friendly meeting’ with then Singapore prime minister Lee Kuan Yew. The meeting made headlines in numerous publications worldwide as the two Asian political ‘strongmen’ had been known to share an often-adversarial relationship spanning decades.

In June 2006, Mahathir’s name reached number one on Google again – this time during his open feud with his successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

He had constantly lambasted Abdullah for discontinuing and delaying several national development projects initiated during his reign, including the Bakun Dam, 'Crooked Bridge' to Singapore and double-tracking rail project.

The ties between Mahathir and Abdullah is believed to have remained frosty until today.

When Mahathir started his personal blog Che Det (chedet.cc) in May 2008, his name was the most searched keyword once again. His website received one million visitors in just one month, and close to nearly 20 million hits in just over a year after his first posting.

‘ Mahathir’ also dominated the May 2013 search list after the 13th general election. His son, former Kedah menteri besar Mukhriz Mahathir, had just won his first state seat, in the Ayer Hitam constituency.

Mahathir also drew a lot of attention on Google Malaysia in April 2015 when he posted a list of controversial 1MDB-related statements on his blog, demanding answers from current Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak regarding the ongoing scandal.