KUALA LUMPUR - Former Malaysian premier Tun Mahathir Mohamad on Wednesday (May 20) disputed a statement from the Registrar of Societies (ROS) that said he is no longer chairman of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia.

Dr Mahathir, through his lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla, said though he had resigned in February, he was in March confirmed by Bersatu to have won uncontested the party's chairmanship in its internal elections, Malay Mail online news reported.

Dr Mahathir is also contesting the removal of Datuk Marzuki Yahya as party secretary-general.

The heated politicking restarted last week, when the government began loosening movement restrictions that started in mid-March to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

The ROS, in a letter sighted by local media on Tuesday, has said that since Dr Mahathir had resigned, Bersatu president Muhyiddin is now its acting chairman.

But Dr Mahathir said Tan Sri Muhyiddin has never regarded himself as acting party chairman. The elder statesman claimed through his lawyer that Mr Muhyiddin had attended the formal establishment of his new alliance Perikatan Nasional (PN, national alliance) on May 17 in his capacity as president.

Malay Mail reported that ROS is an agency under the Home Ministry, with new Home Minister Hamzah Zainuddin being elevated as Bersatu secretary-general to replace Mr Marzuki.

The dispute over Dr Mahathir's chairmanship of Bersatu and the secretary-general's post is tied to a bitter struggle for control of the four-year old party between himself and party president Muhyiddin Yassin, who is now Malaysia's Prime Minister.

Dr Mahathir, PM Muhyiddin and other Umno outcasts formed Bersatu in 2016 at the height of the 1MDB scandal that tainted then-Umno president and Malaysia's premier Najib Razak.

After helping the four-party Pakatan Harapan (PH, coalition of hope) topple Umno-led Barisan Nasional in the 2018 general election, Dr Mahathir and Tan Sri Muhyiddin fell out.

Dr Mahathir shocked everyone by resigning as prime minister on Feb 24, and as Bersatu chairman, saying he did not have the support of his party anymore.

Mr Muhyiddin left PH with his Bersatu faction and joined up with 11 PKR MPs led by its then-deputy president Azmin Ali.

The MPs led by Mr Muhyiddin and Datuk Seri Azmin allied themselves with Umno, Parti Islam SeMalaysia, Gabungan Parti Sarawak and other small parties to form the Perikatan Nasional (PN, national alliance) government.

PN has now been in power for nearly three months.

Mr Muhyiddin was sworn in as the eighth prime minister by the Malaysian King on March 1 and unveiled his Cabinet a week later.

Bersatu is now split into two: The Muhyiddin faction has 31 party MPs and the Mahathir faction has 4 federal lawmakers.

The first Parliament sitting under PN held on Monday (May 18) showed that PM Muhyiddin's loose alliance has 113 MPs on its side in the 222-seat national Parliament.

A minimum of 112 MPs are needed to control the House.

Dr Mahathir and PH has 108 MPs on the opposition's side, and there is one independent MP.