KUALA LUMPUR, July 10 — Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi insisted that Umno will stand their ground based on the decision made by the Supreme Council on Wednesday after several parties including their own MPs argued against it.
He said that the decision to withdraw supporting Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was made according to several chronological events and also after their demand of 14 days of Parliamentary session openings to adhere to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and Council of Rulers request to discuss implementations to help the people in this pandemic.
Zahid also warns the cybertroopers who he said is confusing people and “spinning” decisions.
“So the cyber team over there please stop trying to confuse the people. There is no need for that ‘spin’ and this is about Umno’s actions.
“Umno is a party that does what they say. What does Umno say Umno will do in the interest of the people and the country,” he said in a statement this evening.
Zahid added that the July 7 meeting was done to set further action to be taken based on seven main considerations after the Agong had twice ordered parliament to reconvene on June 16 and June 29.
In Wednesday’s post-midnight press address, Zahid said Umno’s supreme council has decided to withdraw support for Muhyiddin on account of the Bersatu leader’s purported failures in handling the Covid-19 health, economic and political crisis.
Zahid urged Muhyiddin to act honourably and relinquish his post and allow the appointment of an interim prime minister to handle the current pandemic and subsequently advise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to accede for a general election to be called.
The supreme council meeting and Ahmad Zahid’s statement came on the heels of Muhyiddin’s surprise promotion of two Umno lawmakers, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, as deputy prime minister and senior minister respectively.
He also dismissed claims by some party members that he had left out some of the decisions made at the meeting and maintained that all decisions made by the party’s top leadership council are based on democratic practices and are for the betterment of Malaysia.
This was a response from Tan Sri Annuar Musa who urged Zahid to explain the “true position” of the Umno supreme council meeting last night, alleging that the Umno president had read a statement which was readied much earlier, before the meeting.
For the record, Annuar was replaced as the party’s secretary-general position by Zahid and was not involved in the meeting.
He was also seen as being friendly with the Perikatan Nasional coalition, urging Umno to continue cooperating with Muhyiddin in several instances.
