KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 27 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak has accused his predecessor Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad of wielding fear to control his Malay nationalist party Umno.

In an interview with English daily Sunday Star today, Prime Minister Najib however said that party members are no longer afraid of the veteran statesman the moment he stepped down as president.

"He ruled by fear. Once he was no longer president, there is no more fear of him nor the ability to control and he could not determine things in Umno. There was respect but no fear,” the Umno president said.

The Pekan MP also accused the former prime minister of using mentris besar (MB) and chief ministers to control Umno division chiefs, unlike himself who had even appointed some of them.

"Once the MBs were no longer there, he had no contact with the division heads. You’d be surprised he didn’t know the names of many of them,” said Najib, who served as Pahang mentri besar between 1982 and 1986.

"I don’t just rely on the MBs, I am part of them and that is why Mahathir cannot dislodge me from Umno. I was short of my 23rd birthday when I entered politics. It gave me a huge advantage because I grew up with over two generations of leaders in Umno.”

After serving Umno for more than 40 years — 22 of those as the country’s longest-serving prime minister — Dr Mahathir quit the party in February this year over his criticism of Najib’s handling of the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal.

The politician then set up a new party Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) where he was named chairman, which had courted many former Umno members dissatisfied with Najib.

Dr Mahathir and PPBM have since pledged support for federal opposition pact Pakatan Harapan, even lending his support to imprisoned de facto Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who had been his nemesis.

The former prime minister also attended and became the unlikely focus of the Bersih 5 rally this week which had among others called for free and fair elections.