Malaysian DPM Ahmad Zahid confident in retaining UMNO presidency if challenged
UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi speaking at a party briefing on Saturday (Aug 27). (Photo: Facebook/BN Comms)
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said that he is confident in retaining the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) presidency if challenged during the next party election.
“I have been challenged before. There were two contenders who challenged me ... (Their) votes could not match the votes I received.
“I am not being arrogant but it was proven in 2018 that even the combined votes of the other two contenders were less than mine,” said the UMNO president in a press conference after a gathering with Rural Development Ministry staff on Thursday (Jan 5).
Ahmad Zahid, who is also the Rural Development Minister, was asked by reporters if he was ready to be challenged at the next party polls.
In the 2018 UMNO election, Ahmad Zahid was elected as president after defeating his two challengers, Khairy Jamaluddin and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah. He obtained 93 votes compared with Mr Khairy’s 51 votes and Tengku Razaleigh’s 23 votes.
UMNO leadership polls are expected to be held before the middle of this year, following the party’s request to the Registrar of Societies (ROS) last year to hold the polls only after the 15th General Election (GE15).
It is widely expected that the party polls will be held by the middle of this year, as they should be conducted not more than six months after GE15.
According to Ahmad Zahid, the decision on whether UMNO’s top two positions will be contested lies on its delegates who will be attending the party’s 2022 general assembly next week.
The gathering, postponed from last year, is expected to be attended by more than 5,000 delegates from Jan 11 to 14, amid calls from within UMNO for the posts of president and deputy president to be contested in the upcoming party election.
Ahmad Zahid said that UMNO delegates attending the general assembly have "absolute power" to decide whether to remove the top two posts in the party election.
“I believe that the power to determine the leadership rests with the power and voice of the (UMNO) delegates across the country,” said Ahmad Zahid.
He added that nearly 160,000 delegates representing the party branches nationwide can decide to choose whether to retain the existing leadership or bring about change.
“This, for us, is to ensure that UMNO and Barisan Nasional (BN) remain relevant in our political arena. Therefore, the delegates have the ‘absolute power’,” said Ahmad Zahid who is also BN chairman.
Last week, Ahmad Zahid said that the UMNO general assembly next week will hear his policy speech on the new political landscape facing the party.
He also said that it will be up to UMNO delegates to decide whether leaders from the unity government’s ally Pakatan Harapan (PH) would be invited to the general assembly.
Previously, UMNO secretary-general Ahmad Maslan had said that the party’s supreme council will meet on Thursday to decide on the invitation.
Mr Ahmad Maslan also said that the decision on whether the posts of party president and deputy president be contested would only be decided during the supreme council’s special meeting next week.
Amid reports about the party’s upcoming polls, there have also been calls from other UMNO leaders such as Johor UMNO deputy chief Nur Jazlan Mohamed, who said that the top posts should not be contested.
He was quoted by Free Malaysia Today as saying that the contest for the top posts could only split the party.
Calls from other quarters within UMNO who want to see the top two positions opened for contest came about after the party’s and BN’s dismal performance in GE15.
BN finished a distant third with a mere 30 seats, down from the 79 it won in the 2018 general election. PH won 81 seats while Perikatan Nasional (PN) came second with 73 seats.
This led to calls for Ahmad Zahid to step down as UMNO president and BN chairman following the GE15 poor showing.
There were also reports about disagreements within BN with Ahmad Zahid’s decision to strike a deal with PH in forming a unity government led by PH chairman, Anwar Ibrahim.
