KUALA LUMPUR (June 28): Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said that he rejected advances from Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 2018 to dissolve “disgusting” Umno and to join Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) as he was not willing to “bury” Umno.
Testifying in his defence against 47 charges levelled against him in the High Court here before Justice Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah, Zahid was detailing the aftermath of the 14th general election (GE14) in 2018 when Barisan Nasional (BN) and its main component party Umno lost their majority in the Dewan Rakyat.
Zahid said that he was compelled to attend a one-on-one meeting with Dr Mahathir in June 2018 — a month after the crippling loss of BN and Umno — during which Dr Mahathir proposed to him to dissolve Umno and join Bersatu, a party which Dr Mahathir was then the chairman.
Zahid and his defence team have claimed that the charges against him are “politically motivated prosecution” because he did not defect from Umno and join PPBM then.
“I want to share what Dr Mahathir said to me. He said that Umno is dead and had been rejected by voters. BN is dying. He asked me to jump parties and leave Umno to join Bersatu,” he testified.
Zahid said that Dr Mahathir proceeded to tell him that Umno is irrelevant and it should be dissolved.
“I remember that day till today. He (Dr Mahathir) said Umno is not relevant, [that] it’s a party of thieves, bandits and bribery. [He said] Umno is disgusting and dirty and asked for it to be dissolved,” he said.
Zahid said that he then rejected Dr Mahathir’s offer because he was not willing to “bury Umno without a tombstone (batu nisan)” and if he did so, 3.8 million Umno members would “urinate on and flood” his grave.
“I told him that I rejected his request. I stated that I am not willing for Umno to be buried like that. I believe that my grave would be flooded. 3.8 million Umno members will urinate on my grave and flood it. I was not willing to let the party suffer and save myself,” he said.
Upon questioning from his lawyer Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Zainal, Zahid said that after the one-on-one meeting with Dr Mahathir, the top five leaders of Umno in September 2018 went to see Dr Mahathir.
He said that he went in his capacity as the Umno president with the other four, namely deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hassan (known as Tok Mat) and vice-presidents Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid and Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob (the current prime minister).
In this meeting, Dr Mahathir proposed the same thing — for Umno to be dissolved and its members to join PPBM.
“We then took the decision [after the meeting] to form the opposition bloc in Parliament, and I was nominated to be the opposition leader,” he said.
He said that after his one-on-one meeting with Dr Mahathir in June, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission called him for investigations related to his corruption trial where he is facing 47 charges involving criminal breach of trust, corruption and money laundering with his charitable foundation Yayasan Akalbudi, and the misappropriation of its funds.
“I was then charged on Oct 18, 2018, five months after Umno and BN became the opposition,” he said.