ANN/THE STRAITS TIMES – Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Hamidi has revealed that he was the mastermind behind the effort to remove Mahathir Mohamad as the prime minister.
The United Malays National Organisation (Umno) president said he was forced to take the “extraordinary” measure to prevent Dr Mahathir from banning Umno when the latter held the prime minister post.
“When it was made known that Umno was going to be banned and this was confirmed by Anwar Ibrahim… the banning order was already on the desk of the Home Minister (Muhyiddin Yassin) at that time,” he said.
“So in that situation, of course, all the members, especially the top Umno leadership, looked to me to find the best way to ensure that Umno would not be banned.”
Zahid was reported as saying this by Malaysian daily Sinar Harian in his opening speech at the Cameron Highlands Umno division meeting on August 10.
Umno vice-president Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail, who is also the division chief and Pahang chief minister was also present at the meeting.
Dr Mahathir resigned as premier in February 2020, and his Pakatan Harapan-led government was ousted shortly after, with Muhyiddin becoming Malaysia’s prime minister in March 2020.
Dr Zahid on August 10 also reminded delegates of his presidential closing speech at the Umno General Assembly in 2018.
“I mentioned that soon, we would become part of the government, but I was mocked by certain individuals who were no longer in Umno.
“In that situation, here in Jelai, in Sungai Koyan, I must state and admit that I was the mastermind behind the removal of Dr Mahathir at that time.
“For the sake of Umno, it was not possible to allow the party to be banned, humiliated, and toppled with various slanders,” he said.
He added that all remaining details of these stories would be detailed in a book later.
“Earlier, I only shared 10 per cent of it. The remaining 90 per cent will be in my book.
Usually, people will write books when they retire, but I’m not planning to retire yet as long as Umno is not the dominant party.
“As long as that is the case, my colleagues and I will remain in Umno.
“Hopefully, it will serve as a guide for future Umno leaders who will take my place later,” he added.
