1MDB police report man mulls quitting Umno

Khairuddin says he does not want to drag the party that he loves into the controversy arising from a private report against a private firm.

KUALA LUMPUR: Khairuddin Abu Hassan, a man very much in the news since he lodged a police report against 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), is contemplating resigning from Umno.

“This is absolutely ridiculous,” he said in reference to criticisms he has been receiving from members of the party. “The sycophants in Umno have been attacking me for reasons best known to them.

“I am pretty sure that there will be more personal onslaughts against me from now on, but I am well prepared to face whatever they do or plan to do to me. They can rest assured that whatever personal attacks that they have levelled against me will only make me more resolute and determined to get to the bottom of IMDB.”

The vice-chairman of Batu Kawan Umno said he couldn’t understand why his complaint against a private company would cause so much unhappiness in Umno.

Visibly upset during his interview with FMT, he said he was ready to quit Umno although he came from a long line of Umno members. “It runs very much in my blood,” he said of the party.

His pedigree includes the late Sulaiman Palestin, who challenged Hussein Onn for the Umno Presidency in 1978. Sulaiman, who was Khairuddin’s uncle, chalked up a credible number of votes against Hussein.

“I’m thinking of resigning as a member of Umno,” said a downcast Khairuddin.

“It’s a question of dignity. My family and I have been involved in Umno and the struggle to improve the lot of the Malays for as long as I can remember. It has never been about ourselves, but about the people.

“I do not wish to drag the party into what is essentially a personal report I made against 1MDB, which is essentially a private company. The company does not belong to Umno.”

He sees the police report as a way of helping the party to get back to its original struggle. “We have to show again that we are capable of leading the Malays and the nation,” he said.

“I am sad to see what is happening today in the party. There’s a sense of drift. There’s no firm leadership.”

Asked whether he would return to the party once the 1MDB issue had been resolved, he said, “Anything can happen in the future.”

He said he was still waiting for 1MDB to address the issues he raised in his police report. He reminded 1MDB chief Lodin Wok Kamaruddin that he had yet to answer all the queries he made regarding the company’s investments and the management of its funds.