Zaid gets a putdown from Nazri

The opposition is not lacking in leaders, but Zaid is not one of them, says the Umno man.

KUALA LUMPUR: Umno supreme council member Nazri Aziz has characterised DAP recruit Zaid Ibrahim as a presumptuous person harbouring the desire to be recognised as a significant opposition leader.

He said Zaid implied that the opposition had no capable leader when he made his controversial statement about former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad being the de facto opposition leader.

“Maybe what he meant was that he’s the one who’s qualified,” Nazri told reporters yesterday.

“He’s a comedian. Don’t take him seriously. He is not the spokesperson for the opposition. He’s a political frog, jumping from one party to another.”

Nazri said the opposition was not lacking in leaders but added that Zaid was not one of them.

He pointed out that Zaid resigned from Umno, joined PKR and then resigned from that party to set up Parti Kita, with himself as its leader. Two years later, he stepped down and was not active in politics for some time.

In a news report published last Friday, just days after he announced his entry into DAP, Zaid was quoted as saying Mahathir was the opposition’s real leader. The remark prompted protest from DAP legal bureau chief Gobind Singh Deo, who said Zaid had not consulted the DAP leadership before making the statement.
DAP’s deputy secretary-general, P Ramasamy, has also hit out at Zaid.

Speaking to FMT, Ramasamy said Zaid had to be careful with his words because he was now a member of DAP and no longer an “independent political analyst”.

PKR Youth deputy chief Afif Bahardin told FMT Zaid’s statement about Mahathir was “not true”.

He listed the names of opposition figures leading the fight against Barisan Nasional. Included in his list were PKR president Wan Azizah Ismail, PPBM president Muhyiddin Yassin, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu, PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and PPBM deputy president Mukhriz Mahathir. -FMT