GOMBAK, Aug 10 — Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi today said he would stay in Malaysia and defend himself even if he were facing hundreds of court cases.

In a fiery speech at the Madani career carnival here, the Umno president said he was willing to be the target of criticism from the rival Perikatan Nasional coalition in the name of defending his party and allies.

"Let me be the one who is oppressed, victimised, and harassed. I don’t care about your ‘Atok’ or ‘Abah’,” he said, referring to former prime ministers Tun Dr Mahathir and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

"Even if I have 870 legal cases, I will go to court one by one to face them. This face has never run away. I’ll do whatever it takes to defend Umno, Barisan Nasional (BN), religion and our race.”

Zahid then urged the Orang Asli residents here to support the BN candidate for the Gombak Setia seat, Datuk Megat Zulkarnain Omardin, in the Selangor election on Saturday.

Zahid is still facing 47 charges including 12 counts of criminal breach of trust in relation to over RM31 million of charitable foundation Yayasan Akalbudi’s funds, 27 counts of money laundering, and eight counts of bribery charges of over RM21.25 million in alleged bribes.

The High Court in Shah Alam on September 23, 2022 acquitted him of all 40 charges in another corruption case, which the prosecution has since appealed.