GE14 | Caretaker prime minister Najib Abdul Razak said his advantage of having survived "hard times" before turned him into a resilient man who would not give up his mission to help Malaysia scale even greater heights.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Najib said he may seem mild in temperament, but he has in him "strong resilience".

"I've gone through some hard times, not only recently even when I started in politics - the rough and tumble world of politics - even in boarding school.

"I learn to get along with difficult people, difficult circumstances. I don't give up easily. I have a lot of determination.

"I believe in what I'm doing. I believe that what I'm doing is good for the country. I believe that I need to continue with my mission.

"I believe that if the people support me, we will scale even greater heights. That is really what I believe inside me. There is nothing my opponents can do to deter me from that mission," he said.

Najib is now facing what observers believe to be his toughest political battle yet by taking on a challenge from his former mentor Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Mahathir, who was once prime minister for 22 years, have been critical of Najib since the aftermath of the last general election in 2013 which saw BN losing a few more seats.

Najib said his track record proved that he was better than Mahathir, calling him someone who is obsessed about control and a "hard sell" for the opposition.

"The barbs of criticisms (from Mahathir) were very unfair and baseless but I keep telling myself that 'This is his style'.

"He did that to (former prime minister) Abdullah Ahmad Badawi before. He called Abdullah Badawi all sorts of names. He (has) done that to all his political opponents.

"Mahathir will just push it to the extreme and push the blame to others and not himself.

"My record as prime minister stands. I'm sure if you go (look) back at his 22 years and look at his record and (you can) make the necessary conclusions," he said.