Dr M urges Umno members to reject Najib

PETALING JAYA: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (pic) has urged Umno members to submit motions of no-confidence against Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak at their respective branch meetings.

© Provided by The Star Online

In his letter that was sent to all Umno branches, the former prime minister also urged the members to submit a motion calling for party elections to be held this year.

“We can’t wait for the 14th general election because Umno led by Najib will lose.

“Once Umno loses, it will not be able to recover,” he said in the letter, which also appeared in his Chedet blog.

The general election must take place by August 2018 while the party elections have been put off till after that.

Repeating his claims against the Prime Minister and party president, Dr Mahathir said Umno no longer fought for race, religion and country but only for Najib’s political survival. He said no prime minister before Najib had used Umno to defend himself.

“Because Umno’s struggles have changed, the organisation is no longer Umno. It has become something else,” he said, adding that the leaders still in the party were there for personal benefit.

Dr Mahathir said Najib had made Umno his own and his leadership had only weakened the party.

He has quit Umno for the second time and teamed up with Opposition leaders to launch a Citizens’ Declaration that, among other things, calls for Najib’s ouster as prime minister.

In Putrajaya, a crowd of members from several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the country gathered outside the Perdana Leadership Foundation to protest Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s decision to “work with the enemy”.

The group, led by Datuk Jamal Md Yunos, wanted to hand over a memorandum expressing unhappiness with Dr Mahathir’s move to initiate a citizens’ declaration urging Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to step down.

The former prime minister, however, was not in the office and Jamal handed it to Muhamad Fazil Saad, an officer working for the foundation.

Jamal said members of the various NGOs present were disappointed that Dr Mahathir was willing to work with his “enemies” to bring down Najib.