Zaid gets a roasting from Nazri over Milan coup rumour

Nazri Aziz hits out at former law minister Zaid Ibrahim, calling him a fool for starting rumours of a conspiracy to overthrow the PM.

KUALA LUMPUR: Nazri Aziz has hurled a string of venom-laced insults at former law minister Zaid Ibrahim for having the audacity to start rumours that he, along with other key players in Umno, were concocting a plan in Milan to overthrow Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Dismissing Zaid’s suggestions as “nonsense”, the Minister of Tourism and Culture also berated him for having failed to make a name for himself as a politician either in Umno or PKR, Sin Chew Online said.

There were more harsh words by Nazri cited in the article, one of which was that Zaid was a fool and the worst politician of the century.

He also challenged Zaid’s sources about the so-called Milan coup and questioned his motive behind releasing such unfounded remarks to the public.

Nazri was referring to a blog entry that Zaid made on May 10 in which he stated his objection to Daim Zainuddin, Muhyiddin Yassin, Mustapa Mohamed and Nazri meeting in Milan to plan a coup to replace the prime minister.

“I don’t know if this meeting will ultimately result in Najib being replaced, but I just don’t approve of this kind of surreptitious move to replace elected leaders,” Zaid had written.

Zaid also admitted he did not know how reliable his source was but said, “I hope this is not part of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s plan to change the leadership.”

Meanwhile in defending himself against the onslaught of criticism by Nazri who demanded to know who his source was, Zaid told Malaysiakini, “Why should I reveal my source? I don’t owe him, (Nazri) any obligation to reveal my source.

“If it’s not true just say (that it’s) not true, why is he getting so excited?”

Apart from attacking Zaid, Nazri also had some stinging words for former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, a strong critic of Najib’s in recent months, and said that instead of trying to topple the PM, he should take him on at the polls instead.

“I am unsure if Mahathir still enjoys the support of the people, but if he thinks he’s still got it, he can take on Najib in the next general election then,” he was quoted in Sin Chew Daily as saying.

He extended the same challenge to any other Umno leader currently unhappy with Najib’s leadership, saying it was not Umno’s culture to force a leader out before his tenure was up.

He said that Najib had repeatedly cleared the air on nagging issues like 1Malaysia Development Berhad and the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder but that certain quarters were bent on harping on it all the same.

He also said that Mahathir himself had often advised Umno leaders that a ship had only one captain, and said that Umno was taking his advise in acknowledging that their captain was Najib.