Zahid’s political future uncertain, says Zam

The ex-minister says pressure is coming from Umno and the public after Mahathir's disclosure of an alleged secret meeting.

PETALING JAYA: Deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s future in politics is now uncertain as he faces pressure from members of his own party as well as the general public, according to former minister Zainuddin Maidin.

Zainuddin, speaking to FMT late yesterday, said this could be the reason why Zahid had yet to say anything about the criticism and the police reports lodged against him over his disclosure of details found in what he said was former premier Mahathir Mohamad’s identity card.

Zahid’s press secretary has since given a response, saying the issue had been blown out of proportion.

“Zahid’s morale is really low now,” Zainuddin claimed.

The former information minister also referred to Mahathir’s claim that Zahid once secretly met him to seek his support for a bid to replace Najib Razak as prime minister.

Zainuddin also claimed that Zahid’s loyalty to Umno and its president was now under question. “It will remain so unless he can really convince party members that what Mahathir alleged was untrue,” he added.

Mahathir, in a video recently uploaded to PPBM’s Facebook page, alleged that the secret meeting took place soon after Zahid was appointed deputy prime minister in 2015.

Zahid on Sunday exposed details of what was allegedly Mahathir’s old IC, which bore the name “Mahathir anak lelaki (son of) Iskandar Kutty”.

With Zahid’s integrity being called into question and the appointment of Hishammuddin Hussein as special functions minister, Zahid may have a tough time trying to win back public confidence, Zam said.

However he described Zahid as a “very ambitious” politician with strong grassroots support and said he would not go down without a fight.

“Najib too knows what Zahid can do. So it will be interesting to see how Najib is going to tread this dangerous water in a way that won’t threaten his leadership further.” - FMT