He, however, denied that the decision to quit both posts was on account of the influence of any other person.

“My fight (in politics) from the beginning was to lend full support to Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who always maintained his principles.

“Since his resignation was accepted by the political bureau, my services in Pejuang are no longer relevant.

“I have also lost confidence in the president’s leadership,” he said in a statement, referring to Mukhriz Mahathir.

Mahathir and Mukhriz were among the party’s 369 candidates who lost in the recent general election (GE15) and also had their deposits forfeited, having received less than one-eighth of the votes cast.

However, several reports say that Mahathir remains chairman of Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA), a loose coalition of Malay-based parties, NGOs, academics and professionals, which was formed a few months prior to GE15.

Mahathir was sacked by Bersatu in May 2020 after opting against sitting in the government benches in the Dewan Rakyat when Muhyiddin Yassin was prime minister. Muhyiddin had led the party into forming a coalition government with PAS and Barisan Nasional (BN).

Mahathir co-founded Pejuang later that year.