Ramkarpal Singh's remarks concerning Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad courted brickbats from Umno MP Azalina Othman Said and former Bersih chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan.

Both of them took to Twitter to express their views, with the Pengerang lawmaker using the infamous phrase “Can I advise you something?” to drive home the point.

The phrase became popular after MACC disclosed audio recordings of former premier Najib Abdul Razak's telephone conversations with several individuals, including his wife Rosmah Mansor, on the 1MDB scandal.

Rosmah was heard telling her husband in an irate tone, “Can I advise you something?”

In her tweet responding to the DAP MP this evening, Azalina (above) said: “Can I advise you something, YB? Time to stop the blame game and move on. Getting a bit stale.”

Earlier, Ramkarpal (photo) said Mahathir must accept responsibility for the five by-election defeats suffered by Pakatan Harapan, including in Kimanis, Sabah, over the weekend.

Commenting on the erosion of support for the coalition and the warning that it could be a one-term government, the Bukit Gelugor MP said the prime minister's statement that he is willing to work with former foes also does not bode well for Harapan.

To arrest the downward trend, he argued that there must be a clear timeframe for Mahathir to pass the leadership reins to PKR president Anwar Ibrahim as well as the political commitment to initiate the promised reforms and deal with worsening race relations.

'What happened to collective responsibility?'

Meanwhile, Ambiga said she too disagreed with Ramkarpal.

“What about the successes in the other five?” she asked in reference to the by-elections which Harapan won.

She pointed out that Ramkarpal cannot keep launching salvos at his leader and at the same time question the reasons for Harapan growing weaker.

“And what happened to collective responsibility? You cannot keep attacking your leader then ask why Harapan is weak.

“Can you do that in your party for example without consequence? Sorry Ram, my friend. I disagree with you here,” she added.

Last Saturday, Ambiga (above) had warned the government that the people would take to the streets again if key reforms are not implemented by June.

“Some of these are already drafted, if these things can’t be pushed through (by) June, it is a total failure of Harapan's commitment to reform.

“Reluctantly, we never thought we would have to go to the streets in relation to this government, but if it has to be done, it has to be done.

“This is not because of the government, this is because of the people,” she said.