UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has pledged never to seek any cooperation with prime minister-in-waiting Anwar Ibrahim, said party insiders.

This was what Zahid told Umno’s political bureau at a meeting on Monday night, the first he chaired since his return as president after six months of leave.

Zahid’s reassurance came amid allegations that he still supported Anwar, who is PKR president, as both men had been allies during the latter’s time in Umno.

Anwar is to succeed Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad before the next elections, although the actual time frame is unclear.

Umno sources told The Malaysian Insight Zahid was adamant about not having a working relationship with anyone who collaborated with DAP.

“Zahid made it clear that he is not working with Anwar because Anwar has connections with DAP,” a source told The Malaysian Insight.

Sources said he might have made the declaration to fend off the spotlight on him after a letter emerged declaring support for Anwar as the next prime minister, purportedly bearing Zahid’s signature.

He dismissed the letter as a fake and Umno secretary Mohd Somali Reduan later lodged a police report.

Zahid also has to shake off the perception that he is still Anwar’s man. 

In 1998, Zahid, who was then Umno Youth chief, backed Anwar for speaking out against Dr Mahathir, who was then prime minister and Umno president, over allegations of corruption and nepotism.

Dr Mahathir retaliated by sacking Anwar, who was later charged with sodomy and corruption, while Zahid was arrested and briefly detained under the now repealed Internal Security Act.

“Zahid has been considered as Anwar’s man all this while. Calls for him to resign also rang out after it was said that he was trying to form a political cooperation with Anwar to establish a new government,” the party source added.

This is in reference to the months after the general election in May last year, as various factions in Umno weighed their options on how to move forward as an opposition party for the first time in its history. 

Then Barisan Nasional secretary-general Nazri Abdul Aziz reportedly led attempts to get support for Anwar from among Umno division chiefs nationwide to hasten the PKR president’s succession as prime minister.

Nazri’s strategy was to raise enough support for Anwar so that Umno could return to government with other Pakatan Harapan parties.

Nazri said Zahid had tasked him with the negotiations, as the latter feared that Dr Mahathir was out to ban Umno after PH formed the federal government.

However, BN executive secretary, Ahmad Masrizal Muhammad, denied that Zahid had such plans.

At the same time, Umno began losing elected representatives at the state and parliamentary levels who joined Bersatu or became independents. The party also lost ordinary members in the exodus.

This led to calls for Zahid to resign as party president over his inability to stem the bleeding.

In December, Zahid took leave as president and delegated his deputy, Mohamad Hasan, to take over his duties.

On June 30, Zahid abruptly announced his return and that he was taking charge of the party with immediate effect. – July 10, 2019.