(April 13): Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad continued his attacks against Datuk Seri Najib Razak today, saying he would have demanded the prime minister step down even before the general election in 2013 if he was angry that Putrajaya did not want to build the crooked bridge linking Johor and Singapore.

Dr Mahathir said that was not the reason, adding that the people were asking so many questions that he himself could not answer.

"I was merely asking the person who could provide the answers," the former prime minister said referring to the questions he had asked Najib to answer on the 1Malaysian Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal and the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu.

He said, in his latest posting on his popular chedet blog today, that if he was angry over the crooked bridge snub, he would not have supported Najib in the last general election.

"In fact, I even campaigned for his win.

"I could still remember thousands of people (in Selangor) carrying the "I love PM" banner and sang '1M4U'. But BN still lost the state," he said.

In a television interview last Thursday, Najib had said that two issues, the crooked bridge and 1 Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M), could have been part of the reasons why the former prime minister was relentless in his criticism.

Najib had said that Dr Mahathir wanted him to scrap BR1M and revive the “crooked bridge” linking Johor and Singapore.

Dr Mahathir said today that he realised he was alone in the quest for answers and reminded Najib that the support he was getting at the moment does not mean that the group also supported 1MDB.

"They are scared. Some were asking me about 1MDB and wanted me to do something about it.

"Now, there's even threats against those who did not show their support towards Najib," he wrote, possibly referring to Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir who came under fire for not openly showing his support for Najib.

On Najib's television interview, Dr Mahathir said there were many questions still left unanswered which included the whereabouts of 1MDB's Cayman Islands funds which had reportedly been parked in Singapore.

"The fact is the whereabouts of the money was still unknown. Najib said the money is no longer in the Cayman Islands and has been brought back.

"The people are confused. If it is not in the Cayman Islands, where is it? Where did the money come from? Half of it was said to have been brought back and another half is now in Singapore."

Dr Mahathir also questioned the need to keep the money in Cayman Islands in the first place and why it was not used to pay up the company's debt.

Yesterday, Dr Mahathir, in a recorded interview in a blog named Din Turtle, had said that Putrajaya needs to set up a "totally independent commission" to investigate 1MDB.

He said the Auditor-General's office might take a long time for a thorough investigative or forensic study on 1MDB.

He said it took the courts five years to clear him of a defamation suit, and something like the 1MDB investigation would drag on and on.

Dr Mahathir had been bashing Najib and his administration in recent months over the 1MDB scandal, for continuing BR1M, and also the murder of Altantuya, and had even called for the prime minister to resign.

Last Thursday, Najib gave a special interview on TV3 to address the issues raised by Dr Mahathir but he ended up raising more questions. - The Malaysian Insider