Former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has called for a national referendum to show support between him and his successor Najib Abdul Razak.

Despite shows of support by various groups towards Najib, some recalcitrants remained unconvinced and such a poll would settle the matter, Mahathir said.

“What can really convince people will be a national referendum or poll in which every voter in the country can express his support of Najib.

“Perhaps it would also be useful to show how Dr Mahathir (that’s me) is wrong in exposing his financial scandals,” he said in his blog yesterday, perhaps with a touch of his well-known sarcasm.

“Just a simple question would suffice: Najib-tick, Mahathir-cross or the other way depending on who you support. Malaysians are familiar with voting.

“The referendum should be conducted by a reliable foreign public opinion company, overseen by representatives of the two people concerned,” he added.

If Najib wins, Mahathir pledged, he would no longer pressure for Najib's resignation.

“ I will stop asking him to resign. I will not say anything more about 1MDB, the RM2.6 billion and the mansions in UK, US and Hollywood or the 'Wolf of Wall Street' pornographic film. Najib can continue to be the Malaysian prime minister for life.

“ But if I get more votes, it means the rakyat accepts what I have highlighted about Najib’s financial wrongdoings as true, then he should resign,” he said.

'Spontaneous' shows of support

Commenting on the the shows of support for Najib, Mahathir said this is 'obviously' spontaneous.

“ So spontaneous that they immediately bought the red shirts and printed the 'Solidarity with Najib' cards in time for the photographers.

“ Really Najib is very popular. But some recalcitrants may not think so.

“ Even a red-shirted demonstration organised by Jamal Yunos, participated in by Felda people brought by bus and given free meals to counter the Bersih demo which according to Najib’s supporters was organised by the Chinese to overthrow a Malay Government, has not convinced people about Najib’s popularity,” he said.

As for his recent sacking from Petronas, Mahathir said he had actually resigned some time ago but Petronas refused to accept his resignation, nor the allowance he returned to the company.

“ They (Petronas) insisted on putting into my account my monthly allowance. I resigned then because I did not think I should be a non-advising adviser and being paid for doing nothing,” he said.

Mahathir was sacked from his advisory post on March 11, after he backed the Citizen's Declaration calling for Najib's removal from office.