.png)
KUALA LUMPUR - Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has dismissed calls for the party to quit the unity government, insisting that Umno answers to no one but its own members when it comes to deciding its political direction.
Winding up the party's general assembly, Zahid said Umno was not in the business of teaching other parties how to govern.
"We're not busy teaching other parties how to run a government. We only talk about how to strengthen Umno and prepare for GE16," he said.
He also referenced deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan's earlier remarks at the assembly, in which Mohamad's praised Umno's performance in the Johor and Negeri Sembilan state elections and called for unity within the party to help it win Melaka in the next state polls.
"Umno has its own politics to decide our own direction. This house has an owner and that owner is Umno members throughout the country," Zahid said.
He took issue with suggestions that Umno leave the unity government, saying it was in fact critics who were daring the party to walk away.
"Don't ask us to leave the government. They're the ones challenging us to leave the government.
"The Malaysian unity government exists because of Umno. The Prime Minister is the Prime Minister because of Umno's support.
"I'm not angry. I'm hot," he added.
Holding up the signed unity government agreement, Zahid questioned its wording, before reading a portion aloud: "The cooperation memorandum of understanding shall mean this agreement and anything that follows from the formation and operation of the unity government."
