KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 6 — Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi denied that Umno was withdrawing support for Perikatan Nasional to exert pressure on the government to drop charges against the party’s leaders.
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The Umno president insisted that the rejection was based on the government’s recent actions that demeaned the monarchy and the Federal Constitution.
“The accusations levelled at Umno are not true at all. Most rude and improper. Accusing the Umno leadership of not supporting the PN government for not escaping prosecution,” he said in a statement.
Instead, Ahmad Zahid insisted that his party decided to reject PN as it allegedly ridiculed the royal institution, toyed with democracy, manipulated the laws, and misled Malaysians.
He then repeated his insistence that the party’s leaders support the decision to abandon PN, in order to prove their loyalty to Umno and the monarchy.
Zahid reminded them that the decision came directly from Umno members who adopted the resolution to sever ties with PN, during the party’s latest annual assembly.
“The voice of the grassroots at Umno General Assembly must be heard. Even if that means having to deal with prosecution and tremendous pressure,” he added.
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Earlier this week, Ahmad Zahid said enough of his party’s MPs have signed a declaration withdrawing support for PN to deny it the simple majority needed to remain the government of the day.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin alleged that unnamed political leaders were causing the country’s political instability for their personal interests.
In a special address to the nation, he alleged that these leaders did so as he would not bow to their demands such as for him to interfere in their criminal cases.
While he did not name these figures, Umno leaders such as Ahmad Zahid, former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and several others have ongoing corruption trials stemming from their time in the Barisan Nasional administration.
Earlier yesterday, Ahmad Zahid told Umno ministers to resign their Cabinet posts to comply with the party’s decision to reject PN.-Malay Mail