AHMAD Zahid Hamidi has no qualms about stepping aside for his deputy Mohamad Hasan to take over the duties as Umno president.

Stressing that he placed the welfare of Umno above his own, Zahid said he handed over the rehabilitation plans he developed for the party to Mohamad to implement before he went on hiatus in December.

“I have given Tok Mat (Mohamad) full licence to add new measures to the points I have outlined if he wishes, or even to change those that are unsuitable, so as to strengthen Umno and regain support for the party,” Zahid told The Malaysian Insight on the anniversary of Barisan Nasional’s defeat in the 14^th general election. 

Zahid, who was the deputy prime minister, replaced Najib Razak as the Umno president in the fallout.

At the Umno general assembly in September, he laid down 21 points in the rehabilitation plan for Umno, which he calls “guidelines”, for Mohamad to take to the next stage.

“I did not receive any feedback (then) about the points I had laid out. 

“(So) I gave him (Mohamad) the trust to carry out the plan. I am confident he will be able to do something good.”

Zahid’s 21 points include making improvements to the party membership roll and structure, cadre training and dissemination of information.

Zahid said these changes would not be possible without the support of party members.

However, by December, the members’ confidence in his ability to steer Umno through uncharted waters as an opposition party had waned.

Loyalists watched helplessly while a stream of its MPs and assemblymen made a beeline for the exit. 

Since May 9, Umno has lost 17 MPs, mostly to ruling party Bersatu although a few have struck out on their own as independents. It currently has 37 lawmakers in the Dewan Rakyat.

In December, Zahid said he would let Mohamad take over as president for an unspecified period of time.

“(The defection of MPs) made my work more difficult. My priority is not me but the party and BN. As such, I decided not to continue my duties as Umno president. 

“I did not say I was going on leave, I said I was giving my trust to the deputy president to do the president’s duties. This brought calm to the situation although we cannot say that efforts (within and without) to pinch our elected officials have stopped.”

Even though the exodus has ended, Zahid said agencies continue to work at persuading more Umno MPs to jump ship.

Asked to elaborate, he was dismissive of the so-called scheme to weaken the party.

“I heard something like that but what’s is important is that not one of Umno’s 23,000 branches have been dissolved, including those in Sabah.” – May 8, 2019.