‘Mohamad not a puppet’

Mohamed Khaled says Umno acting president is ‘his own man’

PASIR GUDANG: Umno acting president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan is not a “puppet” of Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Party vice-president Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin asserted that Mohamad is his own man.

“Such perception was created to see Umno fail in its effort to recover,” he said after officiating a Back to School programme at Taman Cendana here.

Umno management committee in its meeting on Wednesday decided to appoint Mohamad as acting president after Ahmad Zahid announced that his deputy would carry out the duties of the president a day earlier.

Vice-president Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri will meanwhile carry out the duties of the deputy president.

Mohamed Khaled said it was also too early to judge Mohamad and Umno members should let him do his work.

“He should be given adequate time to perform his duty as Umno acting president to revive the party.

“His decision to give more autonomy to state leaders is a good move to ensure Umno’s recovery also involved the grassroots,” he said.

In an unrelated matter, the former mentri besar said the Pakatan Harapan-led state government was not being fair in giving out aid to the needy.

Mohamed Khaled added that he received complaints from the rakyat, particularly those from the low-income groups, that they must apply to be a member of any Pakatan parties to get government aid.

“What kind of practice is this?

“If the government really wanted to help the needy, then do it sincerely and not help based on which political parties the people come from,” he said.

Mohamed Khaled also claimed that the Pasir Gudang Municipal Council had shut down a free tuition programme for lowincome families at Taman Cendana.

Such perception was created to see Umno fail in its effort to recover. Datuk Seri Mohame e Khaled Nordin