PETALING JAYA: Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak spoke of a former leader who was once accused of corruption, abuse of power and called the "head of thieves" by the same political enemies he works with today.

"It is very frustrating when a former leader is willing to sacrifice the old days of struggle in the name of religion, race and nation to merely conspire with other parties whose goal is in direct contradiction to the goals and values of the party that he fought for before," said the Prime Minister in a speech published on his website.

Najib said that this leader had never been defeated, and to save face, he is willing to do anything to avoid failure in his effort to overthrow the existing government.

"Simply to defend his ego, he often hurls all sorts of allegations against me and members of my administration, but his accusations are defamatory and exaggerated," he said.

Najib said there is no difference between him and this leader.

"Whatever the accusations thrown at him before, infrastructure development continued and the country still went through the transformation process despite political enemies whom he collaborates with now, accusing him of corruption, abuse of power and calling him the head of thieves," he said.

Najib said he joined politics and Umno to uphold religion, race and country, in line with the goals and values of his life.

"I will continue my work to develop race, religion and this beloved country despite facing all the allegations that he has hurled against me," he said.

"People need a leader who can serve them full-time instead of with the aim of toppling others," said Najib.