DR M RISES ABOVE ‘KUTTY’ TAUNTS: ‘ZAHID ASKED ME HOW TO MANAGE UMNO, I TOLD HIM FRANKLY – UMNO HAS BETRAYED THE MALAYS, THAT IS WHY UMNO IS HATED NOW’

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Umno acting president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had sought his advice yesterday on how to administer Umno.

Zahid had uploaded a photograph of him and Mahathir at the latter’s office at the Perdana Leadership Foundation, Putrajaya yesterday but declined to reveal details.

“(Zahid) wanted to know how to manage Umno,” said Mahathir, who was the fourth Umno president, a position he held for 22 years between 1981 and 2003.

“So I told him frankly that Umno had betrayed the Malays. I reminded him that we established Umno to help the Malays, but Umno (leaders) have changed and focussed on self-gratification.

“That is why Umno is hated now. Reviving Umno is difficult. It was once seen as a noble cause, but now it is viewed in contempt,” he told Sinar Harian in an interview yesterday – his first interview with a local newspaper since coming to power, again, on May 10.

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Zahid was the third opposition party leader after PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang and PBB leader Abang Johari Abang Openg to meet Mahathir in recent weeks.

When pressed for more details on other advice given to Zahid, Mahathir replied: “I told him to think about what I said.”

Asked if Zahid was trying to be part of Pakatan Harapan, Mahathir replied with a chuckle.

“We don’t see who is trying to join Pakatan Harapan, especially Bersatu. If he is a politician, he has to quit his party, become an independent and support us,” he said.

MKINI