As reported by Sinar Harian, former prime minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad said that UMNO President Datuk Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was not a hero who removed him as the nation's top leader.
However, Dr. Mahathir clarified that his decision to retire with honor had nothing to do with attempts to outlaw UMNO and was instead the result of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) rejecting his advice.
"I quit because my party, Bersatu, disregarded my counsel. Generally, a leader should quit with honor if his followers no longer trust him. And I carried that out. Zahid is not a hero. He is just someone who faces accusations in court and is willing to work with UMNO's arch-enemy, namely DAP, to become Deputy Prime Minister to save himself from being tried for his crimes," said Tun Dr. Mahathir, as reported by Sinar Harian.
Ahmad Zahid recently revealed that he was the main mastermind in toppling Dr. Mahathir as Prime Minister at the time to save the banning of the party.
He claimed that in order to oppose Dr. Mahathir's proposal to outlaw UMNO, the exceptional measures necessary had to be taken.
However, Dr. Mahathir disclosed that Ahmad Zahid had met him twice while he was prime minister.
He claimed that the reason the Member of Parliament for Bagan Datuk first met with him was to inquire about UMNO's situation following the party's defeat in the 14th General Election (GE14).
“Ahmad Zahid had recently taken on the role of President of UMNO when he visited me. After losing, he was curious about what would happen to UMNO. In my opinion, UMNO has abandoned its core values of fighting for one's race, nation, and religion. As money is king, the party that was using the name UMNO at the time was fighting for it," he stated.
Dr. Mahathir continued, saying that he felt it was preferable to dissolve the UMNO rather than use its name because of the party's misguided struggles.
"Ahmad Zahid did not agree and did not dissolve his party that uses the name UMNO," said the former prime minister.
Tun Dr. Mahathir claimed that following their second encounter, Ahmad Zahid attempted to refute the allegations of corruption that had been made public.
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