PRESSURE is mounting on Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to resign as UMNO president and Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman after UMNO’s dismal performance in the state elections.
FocusM has confirmed with its own sources that at the time of writing, Zahid who is also the Rural and Regional Development Minister is currently in a meeting with the Prime Minister (PM) Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
However, there is no official announcement either from Zahid or the PM’s office about the resignation.
Zahid’s resignation may pave the way for yet another change of government which the people are not ready to accept after several rounds of change of PM in the past five years.
Currently, Zahid has resisted the pressure from within certain factions within UMNO to pull out of the unity government which set-up is based on the advice of the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong (YDPA) and his fellow Malay rulers.
Another change of government would create concerns for foreign investors who have decided to invest in Malaysia.
Zahid had earlier agreed that UMNO is currently at its weakest point; however, he had pledged to rebuild it in the next five years.
After having managed to win only 30 seats in last November’s 15th General Election (GE15) – the party’s worst performance in history – UMNO’s rejection rate has escalated further when it won only 19 seats in Saturday’s (Aug 12) six state polls from a total of 107 seats contested or a pathetic success rate of 18%.
Selangor UMNO treasurer Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz who conceded that the party was rejected by Malay voters in the state elections has urged the party leadership to regain the confidence of the people instead of chasing after “short-term power”.
“If the results of this state election aren’t a final warning of its survival as a party for the Malays, I don’t know what warning should be given to make us realise that we have been rejected,” contended Zafrul.
The former finance minister who was dropped from becoming a candidate in the state poll despite earlier speculation of him leading BN’s charge further noted that the two seats bagged by UMNO were a painful reality to show that the party is “very weak” in Selangor.
Notwithstanding the performance by UMNO, careful analysis needs to be carried out to study the cause of UMNO’s dismal performance since there are “unusual” discrepancies in the voters’ statistics in some constituencies.
For example, FocusM has detected that there has suddenly been a big spike in the voters’ registration which went up by 59% in the Sungai Pelek state constituency over the past five years even with the small Selangor town hardly boasting any job opportunities to attract people to the township. – Aug 15, 2023
