JOHOR BARU, May 20 — Attempts to bring back Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to lead Umno as president are not good for the party, which seems to be just recovering, said Tebrau Umno division chief Datuk Maulizan Bujang.

He said party members should remember that Zahid was forced to take leave as party president partly because his leadership lacked direction and caused some Members of Parliament and division chiefs to quit the party.

In fact, Umno was expected to remain weak if he had not taken leave as party president then, he said in a statement today.

"Umno is seen to be stable now and is beginning to regain the confidence of the people, especially Malays, under the leadership of Tok Mat Hassan (Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan), who is viewed as more capable and clean by the community,” he said.

Maulizan admitted that some Umno supporters had not given back their support to the party because they felt it had not truly changed as it was still supporting leaders accused of power abuse and corruption.

"Let Umno be run by the existing leaders and forget about attempts to make a return,” he said. — Bernama