Kadir Jasin: Zahid’s laissez-faire remark on Anwar’s takeover bid suggests Umno MPs free to do as they please
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 23 — Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has depicted his party and its leadership as powerless by saying its lawmakers could individually decide whom to support to be prime minister, said Datuk A. Kadir Jasin.
The former Bersatu supreme council member was commenting on Zahid’s statement that the latter would not stand in the way of Umno and Barisan Nasional MPs who back Anwar’s bid to take over as the PM.
He noted that Zahid took a similar stance on official support for Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and the Perikatan Nasional coalition despite Umno’s refusal to join the latter.
Kadir noted that a senior journalist wrote a piece suggesting that Umno was disintegrating. He agreed.
“The Umno president and supreme council no longer decide which candidate the party’s lawmakers should support to be prime minister.
“They (the Umno MPs) can decide for themselves They are free agents and Umno no longer has any stand or role in selecting a prime minister,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
After Anwar claimed this afternoon to have secured a “formidable” majority with which to form a new government, Zahid issued a statement acknowledging that some lawmakers from his party and BN supported this.
Zahid said these lawmakers were not obligated to back Perikatan Nasional as neither Umno nor BN were officially part of the coalition.
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