KUALA LUMPUR (March 11): The Federal Government has agreed to terminate former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohamad’s appointment as advisor to the national oil firm Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas).

The announcement came at the heel of his move of launching the “Citizen’s Declaration” with opposition leaders last week.

A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office read that the Cabinet made the unanimous decision today, due to Mahathir's decision to launch the movement with other opposition leaders, which the government has deemed as a move that is “against the law and Federal Constitution.”

“The declaration aims to topple the democratically-elected government led by the Prime Minister, and is therefore against the law and the Federal Constitution,” the statement read.

“The cabinet decided that, since Tun Mahathir is no longer supporting the current government, he should no longer hold any position related to the government.

“Therefore, the cabinet today agreed unanimously to terminate the appointment of Tun Mahathir as advisor to Petronas,” it added.

After four days of quitting Umno, Mahathir teamed up with ex-deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin; opposition leaders such as DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang, PKR deputy president Datuk Seri Azmin Ali and Parti Amanah president Mohammad Sabu; as well as NGO figures, to ink a 37-point declaration for the removal of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak and to institute reforms.

Mahathir, who has been an ardent critic of Najib over the management of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), had said he was forced to initiate a citizens’ movement that banded political foes together, to pressure for Najib’s removal, since existing structures of checks-and-balances were futile.

Mahathir had later said the leaders had decided to check their political differences at the door in the interest of the nation, but would resume their “struggles” once the campaign achieves success.

He had noted that many Umno members felt uneasy seeing DAP veterans like Lim Kit Siang sharing the same stage as their party leaders, during the signing of the declaration last week, acknowledging that both parties have long been political enemies.

The move does not seem to perturb current Umno leaders in the halls of government.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had yesterday downplayed the significance of movement, saying it was merely made up of radical leaders whose opinions do not represent the majority of Malaysians.

He had also called the movement’s leaders to cease deceiving and confusing the public, by claiming that the demands in the declaration represents public sentiment.

Following Mahathir’s departure from Umno, analysts and several Umno leaders had reportedly opined that the influence of Malaysia’s longest-serving prime minister in Umno was waning, with Najib in control of the support from party leadership.