18 missed calls - Zahid recounts fateful night 'Bossku' made him DPM

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today lamented that he could not spend "Lailatulqadar" in Mecca as was his tradition, revealing that when he was in the holy city for the occasion in 2015, it also marked his appointment as deputy prime minister.

Lailatulqadar refers to when the first verses of the Quran were revealed to the Prophet Muhammad during the last 10 days of Ramadan and are considered by Muslims as a period of abundant blessings.

"In 2015, when I was doing my umrah pilgrimage during the last 10 days of Ramadan, on the 25th night, I received 18 missed calls.

"I called back. I didn't know whose number it was. I said Assalamualaikum and it turned out to be 'Bossku'. He said, 'You have to come back now'.

"I said I can't because we need to wait until the 27th day of Ramadan. It turned out he had appointed me as deputy prime minister," he told a gathering at a breaking fast event at the Surau Al Ittihad in Bangi organised by the local Umno chapter.

'Bossku' is the recent nickname conferred by social media users on former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak. He is currently facing 42 charges of criminal breach of trust, money-laundering and abuse of power over the 1MDB scandal. Najib had denied wrongdoing.

In 2015, Najib had purged his cabinet of opponents and suppressed the 1MDB investigations against him including by removing the attorney-general.

Among those he had purged then was deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin, whom he replaced with Ahmad Zahid.

Muhyiddin and his allies subsequently formed Umno splinter Bersatu and with the cooperation of PKR, Amanah, DAP and Warisan ended BN's 61 years in power in the 2018 general election.

Zahid, who also faces criminal charges for corruption, said he can't experience Lailatulqadar in Mecca this year as the courts have refused to return his passport.

"The three courts, the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court have rejected my application for me to go (to Mecca).

"Perhaps Lailatulqadar is not only in Mecca or Medinah but can happen in Bangi," he told his audience. 

In his speech, Zahid urged Muslims to unite.

"We may have our differences but on religion, let there not be any differences.

"We have become like this because we accentuate our differences to the extreme until the minority controls the majority," he said. - Mkini