PETALING JAYA: Umno’s direction and strategies post-Sabah election will be decided by the party’s supreme council and not his decision alone, says Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
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The party president said a post-mortem of the Sabah polls will be conducted and Umno’s leadership will discuss the direction forward.
“This is an important matter. It is not appropriate for me to speak or decide without a mutual agreement,” he said in a posting on Twitter Thursday (Oct 1).
Zahid added that the party leadership is also allowed to give their views on the matter.
Earlier, Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said that the experience gained during the Sabah polls showed the approach and strategy adopted by Umno worked to its disadvantage.
“Umno president Dr Ahmad Zahid must explain to members of the party its direction and cooperation with our competitors as the outcome of the Sabah election shows the strategies put in place did not benefit us.
“From a political organisation that controlled Sabah for 27 years, the party is now an insignificant political player in the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah coalition.
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“The outcome of the Sabah election is a clear indication that the political cooperation we formed there did not favour us and has only isolated us,” Mohamad had said.
He said in the Sept 26 state election, Umno had also sacrificed seats that had been their strongholds to another party and this significantly weakened its influence.
“What was even more sad he said was Umno had to face independent candidates who
were sponsored by other interest groups and this had also adversely affected it.
“Even the agreement on the Cabinet portfolios was nearly compromised,” he said.
Mohamad said Umno should reassess its political approach or else its power and influence will continue to be compromised in the short term and weakened in the long term. -The Star