PERHAPS renegade UMNO supreme council member Isham Jalil is right that the time is ripe to put the party’s top two positions to test – if not for the No. 2 to take on the party’s president.
Set against the backdrop of glaring opinion clashes – in particular that of BlackRock’s indirect participation in the privatisation of Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd’s (MAHB) privatisation – this may make valid sense.
After all, the former UMNO information chief who was expelled by the party’s supreme council in December last year contended that many of the party’s grassroots would support such a move as they do not wish to be associated with the sitting president and Deputy Prime Minister (DPM).
BlackRock aside, Zahid and his UMNO deputy Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan were also not on the same page with regard to the party fostering alliance with other coalitions in the 16th General Election (GE16).
That the Rembau MP and Foreign Minister reckoned that UMNO may not necessarily cooperate with other coalitions in the national polls slated for 2028 is itself contradicted Zahid’s statement on June 30 that that Barisan Nasional’s (BN) electoral cooperation with Pakatan Harapan (PH) will continue in GE16.
“I want to tell Tok Mat (Mohamad’s moniker), why do you want to contest for the deputy presidency? Go straight to contesting against Zahid, contest the presidency,” he Isham had told the PAS-backed Gelombang Selamatkan Malaysia talk at Kolej Universiti Islam Zulkifli Muhammad in Gombak, Selangor. About 200 people were in attendance at the ceramah.
In fact, the once special officer to incarcerated former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak even went on to rally Mohamad to exit the unity government soonest given a much-delayed decision by UMNO to contest against PH and Perikatan Nasional (PN) in GE16 would split Malay votes.
Interestingly, Zahid – amid mounting pressure – has revealed that he is willing to be challenged for the UMNO president post during the next party election in 2026 but caveated that he would leave it to the party’s supreme council and party general assembly to decide.
“According to the UMNO constitution, party elections should be called once every three years, meaning the next one will be in 2026.
“There is also a clause (in the UMNO constitution) stating that the leadership election can be postponed for 18 months which means it depends on the decision of the supreme council and general assembly.
“We at UMNO obey what is stated in the party constitution and regulations,” he said after officiating the Muar UMNO division meeting here yesterday (July 14).
This might be an afterthought as Zahid had stated earlier that he would leave it to the UMNO delegates to decide on the party’s top posts.
His statement came after Tenggara UMNO division chief Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba had proposal for a motion for the president and deputy president positions to be contested at the next party polls.
Political observers thus far begged to differ if Zahid would ever give up his UMNO presidency until at least his “discharged not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA)” from all 47 charges of criminal breach of trust, corruption and money laundering in relation to Yayasan Akalbudi funds can at least be ‘upgraded’ into a full acquittal.
Source : Focus
The Coverage Malaysia
