KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has launched relentless attacks on Umno because he is unable to "move on”, said vice-president Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.

In a statement today, Khaled said the former prime minister’s barrage of insults was a cover for his own apparent failure at creating a viable alternative to the Malay nationalist party.

He said Dr Mahathir’s experiment with Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) as a better, cleaner, and more Malay alternative to Umno had clearly failed.

"Those whom he trusted and believed to be non-corrupt, pure and clean were clearly more passionate about power and position to the point of rejecting him as prime minister and chairman of Bersatu. The failure must have been very embarrassing.

"After being ousted as prime minister and abandoned by the party he founded himself, Tun Mahathir established Pejuang. As expected, Pejuang’s mantra was that it is better, cleaner and more capable than Umno and PPBM,” he said, implying that the failure so "haunted” Dr Mahathir he felt compelled to attack his former parties.

Dr Mahathir founded Pejuang in 2021 after leaving Bersatu, which then formed the federal government with Umno following the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan administration due to his resignation.

Khaled, a former Johor mentri besar, commented that Pejuang’s first foray into elections at the Johor state polls ended in failure too, where it did not capture any seats contested and lost deposits for all.

He said that Dr Mahathir conceived Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA) when he realised Pejuang’s prospects were poor and that it faced large-scale rejection.

"Perhaps, after realising that the strategy had yet to show any encouraging signs, Tun returned to his original strategy — which is to attack and insult Umno,” he said.

Khaled said main rival, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s party PKR is far more successful, durable, and sustainable in comparison, as it has been in the national political scene for decades.

"What I can conclude is that Tun Mahathir continues to keep tabs on and bother about Umno because he has no choice.

"He criticises and comments on political movements that he founded, such as Bersatu, because Tun believes they do not have a clear future. So, why waste time commenting on unimportant things?” he said.

Khaled was responding to remarks from Dr Mahathir that the imprisonment of former prime minister and former Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak will not cleanse the party of its tainted image.

Najib was on August 23 sentenced to 12 years in jail and fined RM210 million for abuse of power, criminal breach of trust, and money laundering linked to RM42 million of SRC International funds.

He has since filed a petition for a royal pardon and his status as the Pekan MP would depend on the outcome of the petition.

Najib also still faces four ongoing criminal cases involving 1MDB, audit report tampering, the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), and another SRC case.