Zahid's allies push back attempt within Johor Umno to oust him

Allies of acting Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi have begun pushing back against an attempt by young Johor Umno leaders to oust him in the upcoming party election.

Opposed to Zahid but lacking a senior figure to rally around, some have lobbied for Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah to challenge Zahid for the party presidency. 

However, Johor Umno deputy chief Abdul Latiff Ahmad sought to downplay the push, describing such efforts as "personal opinions" of certain individuals within Johor Umno.

Latiff, who is also the Mersing Umno division chief, recounted what he claimed was Johor Umno's bad experience with Tengku Razaleigh, who is more fondly known as Ku Li.

"Honestly, Johor Umno had a bad experience with Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and Musa Hitam in 1987 that led to Umno being declared illegal," he was quoted as saying by Berita Harian.

Musa had partnered Tengku Razaleigh as his running mate to challenge Dr Mahathir Mohamad who was at the time the Umno president.

Tengku Razaleigh lost and subsequently, the party election results were challenged in court, resulting in Umno being declared illegal.

Latiff succeded in defending his Mersing parliamentary seat, located within the east coast of Johor, Umno's last bastion after they lost the state government in the May 9 general election.

Rumblings of discontent

Meanwhile, Sekijang Umno vice-chief Anuar Abdul Manap also backed Zahid, urging for continuity.

"For me, I think it is better that Zahid leads as he is already the acting president. It is best to have continuity.

"If there is a contest, we leave it to the delegates to evaluate and make their decisions," he told Malaysiakini.

Sekijang is among the Johor divisions aligned to Zahid. Other divisions leaning towards Zahid are Pulai and Tenggara. There are a total of 26 divisions in Johor.

Rumblings of discontent in Johor Umno had begun since 2015 when then Umno president Najib Abdul Razak sacked Muhyiddin Yassin, a senior Johor leader, as deputy prime minister.

This was after Muhyiddin questioned Najib about his involvement in the 1MDB scandal.

Johor Umno had suppressed its discontent for the sake of unity in the 14th general election but paid a heavy price when it lost power.

Many senior state Umno leaders are adopting a wait-and-see approach in the Umno election but younger leaders, who see Zahid as Najib's man, fear Johor Umno may pay a bigger price if it continues to remain silent.

Yesterday, Onn Hafiz Ghazi, political secretary to Hishammuddin and great-grandson to Umno founder Onn Jaafar, backed Tengku Razaleigh as president.

"I am aware that our coming struggle will require extraordinary courage. It requires courage to speak the truth and do what is right, even though what we say or do may unsettle certain quarters," he said.

Onn survived the 14th general election, having won the Layang-layang state seat by a razor-thin 364 votes. -Mkini