BERSATU is the best party to champion the Malays now as corruption has destroyed Umno’s ability to do so, said former Umno leader Rahim Thamby Chik today when applying to join the government party.
Rahim said that Umno had lost its spirit of struggle for the Malays, which he said had now shifted to Bersatu.
“I am sad to leave Umno after having struggled for over 40 years to champion the Malays. I quit the party because Bersatu can champion the Malays better, more efficiently and effectively.
Rahim was the sixth chief minister of Malacca from April 26, 1982, to October 14, 1994. He was also Umno Youth chief from 1993 to 1996.
He said Umno was caught in a “cash is king” culture that was difficult to rectify even in the next one or two elections, as party leaders were facing charges and trials.
Rahim said his departure from Umno was voluntary and not made under pressure or due to an offer from anyone.
He submitted his application form, along with about 100 other forms, to Malacca’s Bersatu chairman Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof, who is also entrepreneur development minister, in Ayer Keroh.
Quoting party sources, The Malaysian Insight had reported that Rahim was leaving Umno to join Bersatu this morning.
In 1994, Rahim had been charged with statutory rape of a minor but the charge was later dropped due to lack of evidence.
The Kota Melaka MP at the time, Lim Guan Eng, had criticised the then government led by Dr Mahathir Mohamad for not acting against the chief minister.
Lim was subsequently jailed 18 months under the Sedition Act 1948 and Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 over statements he had made against Rahim.
Rahim’s ties with current PKR president Anwar Ibrahim are also strained due to the latter having lodged a police report against the former chief minister and other Umno leaders for graft.
Anwar had claimed he had a report prepared by the Malaysian Anti-Corrruption Commission on Rahim, but that the attorney general had refused to act on it.
Rahim was thrust back into the limelight in 2011 when he, along with two individuals and calling themselves ‘Datuk T’, claimed they were in possession of a sex video purporting to show Anwar.
The three were charged and pleaded guilty to displaying pornography and were fined by the court.
Rahim joins Bersatu following the mass exodus of Umno elected representatives out of the lynchpin Barisan Nasional coalition in recent days.
The week saw 11 Umno MPs, nine assemblymen and two senators dump the party to become independents, pledging their support for Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s leadership of the country.
On the other hand, Umno members have been calling for its president, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, to step down, citing his weak leadership as the main reason to relinquish his post. – December 16, 2018.
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