Puteri Umno today accused former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad of discarding the long-held Umno tradition of remaining loyal to the leaders.

The movement's vice-head Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin said that while party members are advised and reminded to be loyal and stand firm behind the current leadership, Mahathir had done the reverse.

"Puteri wants Mahathir to propose new ideas that can strengthen the government of today and not create an uneasy situation," she said, as reported by Bernama.

She added that Mahathir's continued criticism on Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was a setback to the party and was hurting the members.

"It's public knowledge that Pak Lah (Abdullah) is an open-minded person but with the persistent attacks will surely hurt his and party members' feelings," she said.

She said that the movement, of which Mahathir was instrumental in setting up, thought that a heart-to-heart talk between the two leaders would help smoothen their relationship.

"But we were shocked and disappointed in the manner Mahathir reacted after the four-eye meeting. Mahathir could have made use of other channels if Abdullah's leadership needs to be criticised," said that Papar MP.

The meeting - dubbed by many as a reconciliation meeting - took place on Sunday.

Mahathir didn't wait long after the two-hour meeting to rain criticism on Abdullah. He held a press conference on the day of the meeting and on the following day to give details of the meeting and continued to lambast Abdullah's leadership.

Abdullah on his part had remained silent and said that he will respond soon to all the issues raised by Mahathir at the meeting.

Rosnah said that Mahathir's renewed attacks on Abdullah's administration will just jeopardise the country's political climate.

Abdullah gaining sympathy

Meanwhile Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin said that a random survey among information ministry officers showed that Mahathir's latest outburst has only generated more sympathy for Abdullah.

He said that the survey, conducted a day after the landmark meeting, found that many people were disappointed with Mahathir's approach in making the open statement.

He added that his ministry will conduct a more comprehensive study on the people's response towards the development.

The MP for Merbok said Mahathir made a political miscalculation by revealing the substance of his meeting Abdullah.

Ideally, Zainuddin said, the meeting should have ended with both leaders not making any statements about it.

He said that he had a feeling that the meeting will not work out as was hoped by many people.

"Three days before the meeting, I mentioned to Pak Lah (the prime minister) that I did not think the meeting would bring any positive result," he was quoted as saying in Bernama.

"My hopes and that of other Malays and Muslims were dashed when Mahathir came out with a more critical statement and of a personal nature against Pak Lah," he said.

"As far as I can remember, this is the second time that Mahathir has made a political miscalculation. The first time was when he brought Anwar (former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim) into Umno to strengthen the party but the move only caused damage to Umno," he said.