‘ZAHID’S POSITION NOW UNTENABLE’
Khairy says some Umno members feel uncomfortable with viral ZahidAnwar audio clip
DATUK Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s current position as Umno president has been described as “untenable”. Khairy Jamaluddin said the party president was increasingly insupportable since an audio clip of him with PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim went viral recently.
He said several Umno members felt uncomfortable with the recent turn of events.
“I think Zahid’s position is increasingly untenable as the party president. Members of the Supreme Council must meet immediately and allow for party elections to take place.
“As far as I am concerned, his position is very untenable. The best way to move on is to have the party election now,” Khairy said after an event in Subang Jaya near here yesterday.
The Rembau member of parliament and former Umno Youth chief was asked to comment on the viral four-minute-and-17- second audio clip, al- legedly containing a conversation between people who sound like Zahid and Anwar.
The recording included a snippet of Zahid’s speech at the recent Umno general assembly in which he stressed upon the party’s rejection of any cooperation with Anwar, DAP and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu).
In the clip, the speaker sounding like Anwar praised Zahid for his speech at the general assembly, and the latter then responded to the compliment, referring to Anwar as his mentor.
On Thursday, both Anwar and Zahid denied having any involvement in the audio recording. They expressed their plans to lodge police reports on the matter. Anwar had described the incident as a possible ruse to use PKR as a tool in the political infighting in Umno.
The turmoil in Umno erupted when a faction in the Barisan Nasional component member wanted to end cooperation with Bersatu, while another sought to continue cooperation with the Perikatan Nasional (PN) component member on the grounds of unification of the ummah.
Several other issues also sparked divisions within the party, including allegations of efforts by several senior leaders of Umno to work with Anwar, who is parliamentary opposition leader and Umno’s political nemesis, as well as DAP.
Umno is also seeing a split between party leaders who do not have any position in the PN government and those who hold positions in the cabinet, agencies and government-linked companies.
Some factions in the party also see Zahid as a liability for the party as he faces dozens of corruption charges in court.
At the recent Umno general assembly, Umno delegates approved a motion to cease cooperation with Bersatu in the 15th General Election and affirmed that the current cooperation with the PN government would continue only until the dissolution of Parliament.
In February, Zahid reportedly gave an assurance that party elections would be held by the end of this year.
Khairy, who is science, technology and innovation minister, contested against Zahid for the Umno presidency in the 2018 party election, which was held after the 14th General Election.
Zahid managed to stave off Khairy’s challenge as well as other challengers, including party veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, Bandar Tun Razak Umno member Mohamed Iqbal Maricair and Iskandar Puteri Umno member Mohd Yusof Musa@Jamaluddin.