PUTRAJAYA, Jan 5 — Let Umno’s 160,000 members decide if Umno should open the top two posts for contest, its president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today.
The newly minted minister of rural and regional development said he was open to anyone contesting.
“I feel the power to decide the leadership lies in the hands of our nearly 160,000 representatives nationwide. They can decide if the leaders should be changed.
“All this while ensuring Umno is still relevant for times to come,” Ahmad Zahid said during a press conference in Putrajaya after officiating the new year briefing ceremony with ministry staff.
Ahmad Zahid, who is also the deputy prime minister, was reported to have said during a politics talk show last week that having no contest for the top two posts in the party was not something new. However, as a democrat, he would leave it to the party delegates to decide.
At present, Umno has yet to decide whether the president and deputy president’s posts will be up for contest in the upcoming party polls.
Johor Umno deputy chief Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said the contest for the president and deputy president’s posts will only threaten the current unity and bring about divisions within the Malay nationalist party.
When asked if he would be open to being challenged at next week’s Umno general assembly, Ahmad Zahid said this wasn’t something new to him as two others done exactly that in 2018 but lost.
Former Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin and Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah ran against Ahmad Zahid in 2018 for the post of president.
“Not to brag here but two tried to challenge me in 2018. However, their combined votes didn’t come close to the votes I garnered,” he recalled.
Umno’s supreme council is said to meet tonight to discuss the general assembly. The meeting is expected to take place at their headquarters at World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur.
