KUALA LUMPUR, March 23 — Umno Supreme Council member Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's vengeance could put Malaysia in a precarious situation, therefore people should not support him in the 14th general election.

In a statement today, the Rural and Regional Development Minister said Dr Mahathir’s "true intentions” were revealed when the 93-year-old attacked Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak at the launch of Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) manifesto last week.

He said,  instead of lobbying what the coalition pact could do for the country if they take over Putrajaya, Dr Mahathir used the opportunity to push his own agendas.

"The Pakatan Harapan chairman spoke briefly talked about their manifesto. There’s a high possibility that he himself does not even know its contents but mentioned Najib’s name at least 80 times in his speech,” he said.

He added, Dr Mahathir also made false accusations that Najib had committed at least 62 offences since taking office as the Prime Minister.

Ismail said it is no secret that Najib, just like his predecessor Tun Abdullah Badawi, has denied various requests from Dr Mahathir which had angered the longest-serving prime minister.

"Mahathir wanted Najib to do many things including keeping the Internal Security Act and emergency ordinance, not prioritising the minorities before GE13 and cancelling minimum wage and 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M), as he had written on his blog in August 2014,” he said

He said, Najib also disagreed to countless personal requests made by Dr Mahathir, such as handing over Malaysia Airlines Berhad to a friend of his, licensing his good friend’s sports betting operations and giving Proton a RM2 billion free grant, on top of the Singapore-Malaysia crooked bridge.

"Dr Mahathir openly said in 2010 that he would give his nod to the sports betting license if he was still Prime Minister,” he said, citing a Malaysiakini report.

Ismail said Dr Mahathir believes that Najib indebted to him for helping him move up the rank till he held the Prime Minister post, thus was infuriated when Najib did not support his son ― Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir in an Umno election.

" Dr Mahathir was angered when Najib did not lobby Mukhriz to be Umno vice-president, resulting in his loss to Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein. It was the second time in a row that Mukhriz had lost in an Umno election,” he said.

He said it was no coincidence that Dr Mahathir had chosen the first day of Umno Supreme Council meeting on December 2, 2013, just a month after the Umno election to announce his resignation as Petronas chairman due to old age.

"Do Malaysians believe that at 88 he was too old to hold the post of Petronas chairman but now at 93, he is still young and energetic enough to become the Prime Minister?”

Ismail said Mahathir’s anger towards Najib has nothing to do with the country but was prompted by his own personal vendetta.

"Just like what he has done to Najib, no one can forget the various accusations involving corruption and misconducts that Dr Mahathir hurled against Abdullah.

"It, however, stopped after Abdullah resigned in 2009 and none of the accusations were ever mentioned again,” he said.

Ismail said he hoped the people are smart enough to put the future of Malaysia above the personal vengeance of any one individual.