JOHOR BARU, March 2 — Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin denied that he is being "quiet” compared to the way former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had been campaigning for Barisan Nasional (BN) for the upcoming Johor state election.

In a scathing retort, Muhyiddin said Najib should not be trusted.

"What do you mean quiet? Najib is talking nonsense because he is a convict. How can you trust him?

"I spoke based on facts. I'm not quiet but you people didn't report what I said.

"Not only me, but there is also our (PN) machinery working on the ground. It is wrong to compare me with Najib,” he told a press conference after the launch of PN's manifesto at the Trove Hotel today.

On February 28, Free Malaysia Today (FMT) reported Najib kicked off BN’s election campaign in Johor since nomination day two days earlier by going around Pagoh, the stomping grounds of his former deputy Muhyiddin.

Muhyiddin, who has opted not to defend his Gambir seat in the state elections, seems to have been overshadowed by Najib and has remained relatively quiet, in comparison.

Muhyiddin was sacked as deputy prime minister post by Najib in 2015 for criticising the latter on the 1MDB scandal, with both aiming digs at one another since early February when the Johor state government was dissolved.