“I believe her removal will give a big victory to Najib in GE14 because she is someone very vital in Malaysia’s politics,” the Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman quipped in a Facebook video.

“Even as the patron of an organisation, she still manages to wield influence that affects the decision of the people in the coming election.”

News of the association’s decision surfaced yesterday, after Siti Hasmah’s daughter and civil rights activist Marina Mahathir posted about it on Twitter.

“We received a letter from them recently that they had adopted a resolution asking her (Siti Hasmah) to withdraw as patron. She will obey,” Marina told FMT.

The news of the tennis association’s decision came two days after Siti Hasmah was interviewed by the police about her involvement in a women’s rally in Kuala Lumpur last year.

Mahathir said he and his wife respected the laws and accepted the rulings, but asked why the same laws were not applied to certain other individuals.

“The situation in Malaysia today is that the laws have been by-passed, and are, instead, abused,” he said, adding that neither he nor his wife were intimidated by the actions taken against them.

“We share whatever happens to us but we are neither perturbed by nor afraid of such intimidations.”

Siti Hasmah dropped as patron of wheelchair tennis body, says Marina