UMNO president Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is being attacked because Perikatan Nasional does not want Umno to work with other political parties, said Nur Jazlan Mohamed, following a leaked audio clip of the party chief speaking to a voice believed to be Anwar Ibrahim’s.

Nur Jazlan, who is Johor Umno deputy chief, said the clip’s authenticity had yet to be proven, but if it were genuine, there was nothing wrong with Zahid’s speaking to the PKR president as both parties try to find common ground ahead of the next election. 

He said it is clear now that Bersatu has no hope of working with Umno after the latter at its annual general assembly last month endorsed the party leadership’s decision to end political ties with Bersatu for GE15.

Nur Jazlan said Umno has the right to explore other alternatives after rejecting Bersatu.

“What Bersatu fears now is that Umno will work with somebody else. 

“As such, they are all out to tarnish Zahid and Najib Razak’s reputations,” said the former deputy minister, who was also Pulai MP.

He said that if the audio clip was really of Zahid and Anwar’s speaking to each other, their conversation did not show they were negotiating anything.

The audio clip was uploaded on MalaysiaNow and later went viral. The clip a recording of a purported conversation between Zahid and Anwar after the Umno general assembly last month.

In its report on the audio clip, the news website said the clip showed that proceedings at the general assembly had been orchestrated by Zahid and Anwar. 

Zahid earlier today denied being the voice in the audio clip. 

“I am disappointed and shocked over the audio clip, supposedly a conversation between Anwar and me.

“I strongly deny the content of the conversation as per the audio of the recording.” – April 7, 2021.