Dr M congratulates Zahid, but says PH won’t work with Umno

LANGKAWI: Umno may have a new president, but Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he has no plans to work with the party.

Dr Mahathir congratulated Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on being elected Umno president, but said he would not forget “how they treated us in the past”.

“Congratulations. This means he is loved by Umno, and I congratulate him. But, we will not work with them.

“They did many thing to us in the past.

“We could not do anything. We couldn’t even collect donations.

“All my friends could not even get close to me. They were ‘tortured’ until they all ran away (from me), leaving me alone.”

He said this when asked to comment on Zahid’s victory as Umno president in Umno’s polls on Saturday.

It was reported that Dr Mahathir quit Umno at the height of the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal and set up Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM).

However, he faced numerous problems in registering the party with the Registry of Societies (RoS), which is under the Home Ministry.

Zahid was then the home minister.

In the run up to the 14th General Election, RoS had suspended PPBM, forcing the party to contest the election under PKR’s logo.