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KUALA LUMPUR – Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi hit out at those pushing for the party to leave the Unity Government, following his sharp remarks in his policy speech at the 2026 Umno General Assembly (PAU) on Friday.
Without naming the parties concerned directly, Zahid, who is also deputy prime minister, said the position of prime minister currently held would not have been achieved without his party's support.
"The ceplos (keyboard warriors) keep telling us to leave the government if we dare. Remember this, you ceplos.
"The Unity Government exists because of Umno, you know. The prime minister became prime minister because of Umno's support, you know," he said while winding up the president's policy speech at PAU 2026 at the World Trade Centre (WTC) here on Saturday.
Calls for Umno to quit the coalition have persisted for months, with Zahid dismissing such calls, insisting Umno would remain in the Unity Government until the next general election and had never considered a "backdoor" move.
Zahid's remarks referred to the aftermath of the 15th general election (GE15) on Nov 19, 2022, which produced Malaysia's first hung parliament, with no coalition winning enough seats to form the government on its own. Pakatan Harapan (PH) had won the most seats but fell short of a majority, while Barisan Nasional (BN), led by Umno, suffered its worst-ever showing with only 30 seats.
After days of negotiations, the Umno supreme council met on Nov 23, 2022 and agreed to throw BN's support behind PH's Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
The Yang di-Pertuan Agong then appointed Anwar as prime minister the following day, ending the deadlock and giving rise to the Unity Government, which brought together PH, BN and coalitions from Sabah and Sarawak.
In return for its support, Umno secured the deputy prime minister's post for Zahid, along with several ministries, while retaining the BN chairmanship.
