UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is fighting for survival inside and outside the party, as calls grow for him to step down as president, said insiders and political observers.

Analysts and political observers said the party is now split three ways, echoing former secretary-general Annuar Musa.

There are those who are aligned to the Perikatan Nasional government, those who want to overthrow the current government and those who want to work with DAP and opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, they said.

Zahid and former Umno president and prime minister Najib Razak are said to be allies leading the faction looking to cooperate with Anwar and DAP.

The former Barisan Nasional deputy prime minister is also facing 47 charges, including 12 for criminal breach of trust, eight for corruption, and 27 for money-laundering.

Calls are now growing from among youth leaders and the grassroots for him to step down so that a new leadership can be installed to face the next general election.

Social media is also abuzz with various posts labelling Zahid a weak president and a coward.

An Umno Supreme Council member, however, came to the president’s defence, saying it is normal to have disagreements among “family” members.

“Even in families, there are factions. The secretary-general has said the party leadership is still working as per normal.

“Wait till the time is right (party elections),” the source told The Malaysian Insight on the condition of anonymity.

Grassroots wishes

Johor Umno deputy chief Nur Jazlan Mohamed said Zahid is just following the demands made by the grassroots, who no longer favour cooperating with PN.

“Zahid as president acted on the decision of many Umno divisions (which) don’t want to work with PN since it is not a majority government,” he said.

Nur Jazlan said after the proclamation of emergency, Umno members were confused if democracy had been suspended.

“The implementation of emergency rule has raised many questions that need to be addressed if we are still a democratic parliamentary government.”

The former deputy home minister also took aim at several of Zahid’s critics in PN.

He said these critics should first question Muhyiddin Yassin if there is any necessity to declare an emergency when there is already a movement-control order to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The Umno ministers and MPs should perform their duty of check and balance. They should question the PM and not attack Zahid personally.

“They are after all paid by the public to carry out that responsibility,” Nur Jazlan said.

Risk consultancy Bower Group Asia director Adib Zalkapli told The Malaysian Insight that some Umno Ministers are more partial to PN over Umno as they are keen on fortifying the coalition to strengthen their own positions.

“The split in Umno is not surprising given that the top office-bearers are not in the cabinet while some MPs are serving as ministers.

“Naturally, those who are in the cabinet would want to strengthen the PN administration,” Adib said.

Singapore Institute of International Affairs senior fellow Dr Oh Ei Sun said Zahid primarily does not have the backing of the grassroots as he is seen as an Anwar stooge from the start.

“Zahid never had many hardcore supporters in the party, having emerged from being Anwar’s chief henchman against Dr Mahathir Mohamad and then later switching political sides quite a few times for survival,” said Oh.

“He became DPM only because Muhyiddin resigned and it would be unseemly for Najib to have appointed a cousin,” he said, referring to Hishammuddin Hussein.

Oh added that after Najib’s sudden resignation, Zahid was made acting president to see through Umno’s resurgence as an opposition party for the first time.

“He became Umno president only because Najib resigned abruptly and other potential contenders decided to abstain in the ensuing confusion after Umno lost a general election for the first time.”

Cut a deal

Tasmania University’s Asian studies professor James Chin said even after Zahid became president, his faction was made up of those loyal to Najib, not him.

“He primarily is a weak president because he does not have a lot of people in his faction. Most of them in his faction are Najib’s people.

“He has not been in Umno for long to have that much pull. He got the top job because Najib lost the elections in 2018,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Chin said Umno is split into three factions and there have been calls for Zahid to step down as Umno does not want to be dragged in the mud with him.

“There are three major factions in Umno and they cannot see eye to eye. If Umno does not reform, it will be a party that will not go anywhere. There is no strong leader to lead the party forward.”

Adib said Zahid is the first Umno president since independence elected when the party was not in power. He is only the party president but not the prime minister. So naturally, he cannot be as influential as his predecessors.

“Despite the unprecedented nature of the Umno presidency, he was still popularly elected by the party delegates, so unseating him won’t be so easy.”

However, they all agreed Zahid will not step down until he has a deal cut out to escapte the court cases.

“He would have to fight tooth and nail to hang on to the party presidency. At the very least, there must be some deals struck on his cases before he would consider stepping down,” said Oh.

Several Umno ministers, including Annuar, have been defending the PN administration over calls from their party to break away from the coalition and strengthen the Muafakat Nasional charter with PAS.

Umno secretary-general Ahmad Maslan also sent out a letter to MPs urging them to support the party’s bid to challenge the emergency proclamation and pushing for a parliamentary sitting soon.

Zahid was urged to relinquish the deputy prime minister post in June 2018 and he was also pressured to resign after a group of Umno lawmakers quit the party to join Bersatu.

Two division youth chiefs said recently Zahid should go on leave immediately for backing Anwar’s bid to form a government with DAP’s cooperation. – January 21, 2021.