Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad should take a look in the mirror before accusing PAS of splitting the Malay community, PAS vice-president Idris Ahmad said.

Idris said the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) chairperson's 22-year prime ministership was marked by incidents that fractured the community.

He said that it was under Mahathir that the redrawing of electoral boundaries, which split Malay seats, causing fractures in the Malay community.

This was after a sizeable Malay swing against BN in the 1999 general election, after Anwar Ibrahim was sacked as deputy prime minister the year before, he said.

"Didn't the Malay community split under you, Tun? In the 22 years you were in power, three deputy prime ministers were cast aside. This led to Team A and Team B in Umno and Umno was declared illegal.

"It was during your time that Semangat 46 and PKR were born, and wasn't it also in your time that the Terengganu oil royalty was cancelled?" Idris asked.

Semangat 46, an Umno splinter party, was formed in 1988 by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah as a challenge to Mahathir, after the Tengku Razaleigh lost in the party election which was later found to be fraught with irregularities. This led to Umno's de-registration.

PKR's first incarnation was as Parti Adil, formed by Anwar's supporters. Both Semangat 46 and Adil commanded support from Malays who no longer had faith in Umno.

Mahathir's first deputy prime minister Musa Hitam resigned in 1986, citing irreconcilable differences, followed by Ghafar Baba.

Ghafar was replaced with Anwar after he lost in the Umno deputy presidency race in 1993. Anwar, who was brought into Umno in 1982, was seen to be Mahathir's favoured successor.

'Spliting' Kelantan

Mahathir, in a blog posting late on Monday, said PAS was the cause of divisions in Malay society, starting with the time when its founding members quit Umno to form the Islamist party.

This includes the hardline stance in the 1980s and 1990s by the PAS leaders at those periods to declare those who support Umno as non-believers, prompting Muslim communities to stop praying together and for families to break up, Mahathir said.

However, Idris reminded Mahathir that it was under his leadership that the federal government created a "wasteful" department called the Kelantan Federal Development Office, after BN lost Kelantan in 1990, with which the federal government appointed its own village chiefs, splitting even the grassroots in Malay heartlands.

"Isn't Kelantan a Malay state? The Federal Development Office now exists in all states where BN lost and this trend continues all the way until the Najib administration. Is this the symbol of Malay unity?" he asked.

"What have you done? Does this make you the father of Malay unity?" Idris asked.

He added that Mahathir was just lashing out now because PAS has refused to be part of the Pakatan Harapan coalition.

"PAS is against BN. We were against BN even when you were in power. You are only learning to fight BN now, so do learn to be an opposition politician. You are only now realising how painful it is to be an opposition member in Malaysia," Idris said.

The spat between PAS and Mahathir has made PAS-Bersatu ties difficult, after PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang said any party that wants to be a force in politics must choose whether it wants to be with PAS or with Pakatan Harapan.

Despite Mahathir's broadside, Bersatu leaders are still diplomatic about ties with PAS.