Zahid: I was offered to join PAS, but stayed with Umno

The Umno acting deputy president claims that the late PAS leader Haron Din had advised him that his instinct in wanting to remain in Umno was right.

PETALING JAYA: Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today said he had been offered to join PAS after he stepped down from his post as Umno Youth chief, following the firing of Anwar Ibrahim from Umno and the government in 1998.

He said the offer came from PAS leaders who invited him after he was arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA), but he eventually chose to remain with Umno.

“I was approached by a PAS leader who asked me to leave Umno and join PAS. My friends from PAS said that I had spent enough time with Umno,” the acting deputy president of Umno said when officiating the party’s Jerlun division meeting in Kedah today.

He said as leaving the party was not an easy decision to make he went to Mecca to pray for guidance.

He claimed that we he returned to Malaysia, he felt the devil inciting him to leave Umno.

He said he then sought advice from his religious teacher, the late Haron Din, who was then PAS’ information chief.

“Umno, especially the party president at the time, was putting pressure on me,” he said, referring to then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad who is now PPBM chairman.

“I went to Haron Din, I told him I’ve prayed for guidance. My heart was with Umno but my friends asked me to join PAS.

“Haron Din said there were plenty of people like me in PAS, but not in Umno. He confirmed that my instinct was right and asked me to stay and contribute to Umno,” Zahid said.

He also said that when he was the Umno Youth chief under Mahathir, the latter was not fond of him.

“In fact, he looked for ways to remove me from that post. In 1998, I was arrested under ISA. I was asked to write a letter of resignation,” he said.

“There was another letter I was asked to write, which was that I wasn’t forced to resign. And I resigned while I was in detention,” said Zahid.

Zahid was detained under the ISA in Sept 1998 after he led a group of Umno Youth leaders to rally support for Anwar who was sacked from Umno and the government by Mahathir. - FMT