Malaysia's former premier Mahathir Mohamad urged people to sign up the controversial Citizen's Declaration seeking Prime Minister Najib's Razak's resignation.
Speaking at an anti-GST rally in Jalan Raja Mahathir, who has pledged to fight until Najib he is removed from office, said the people's voice should be heard, referring to the anti-Najib move after allegations of corruption against him came out n the open.
The fresh criticism came a day after a senior minister in the Umno-led government said Mahathir's revolt against Najib has ended for want of popular support.
"Without the rakyat, there would be no Rulers," he told the anti-GST protesters. "The Rulers will finally have to listen to the people," he added, according to the Malay Mail.
Mahathir and Najib are locked in a long-standing war of words after the longest serving prime minister became a vocal critic of Najib and asked for his resignation.
Mahathir alleges that Najib abused his power trying to scupper an investigation into the corruption at 1 Malaysia Development Berhad. Mahathir stepped up his calls for Najib's resignation after it emerged that the prime minister had received hundreds of millions of dollars into his personal accounts.
Najib and the ruling Umno party establishment retaliated by ousting Mahathir's son Mukhriz from the position of the chief minister in Kedah province.
Subsequently Mahathir quit the ruling party saying it had become 'Najib's party' and quit his government-linked positions.
The battle of wits descended to a slugfest and Najib took it out on Mahathir by naming former prime minister Abdullah Bazdawi as the advisor to Petronas.
Mahathir had, by this time, brought under him a lose battery of Najib critics and launched a Citizens' Declaration' demanding the ouster of the prime minister.
He and his followers also said they would approach the Malaysian royalty seeking the tainted prime minister's removal.
Mahathir, who was the country's prime minister for more than 22 years, said that under Najib the government has become dysfunctional and a slipped in terms of investment and economic growth.
"The low income earners are feeling the pinch. I told him (Najib) not to implement the GST but he ignored my plea," Mahathir said.
Najib's government rolled out the good and services tax last year. According to government statistics, more than $7.7 billion has been collected from 400,000 companies in the one year since the GST rollout.
On Saturday, senior minister Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said the former prime minister's "obsession" to unseat Najib has pushed the country unnecessarily into a political crisis.
