Former Umno minister says Zahid should take responsibility for party’s dismal performance in state polls

TANJONG KARANG, Selangor - Former Umno stalwart Noh Omar has told party president Zahid Hamidi to step down from his post after the Malay party’s dismal performance in the six state elections last Saturday.

He said Datuk Seri Zahid should take responsibility for Umno’s poor showing, while denying the latter’s accusation that he had sabotaged Umno.

Instead, he lobbed that accusation back at Dr Zahid.

“I want to congratulate the Umno president for sabotaging his own party. Why didn’t he help his party candidate campaign in the Sungai Burong seat last Friday in Selangor? Instead, he went to the Permatang seat, which was being contested by a PKR (Parti Keadilan Rakyat) candidate,” Tan Sri Noh said last Saturday night.

“So, who is the one that sabotaged the party? Why would a party president put more importance on another party but not his own?”

In the Selangor state election, opposition coalition Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) candidate Mohd Zamri Mohd Zainuldin won Sungai Burong after garnering 15,447 votes against Umno’s Mohamad Khir Ramli who got 8,605 votes.

Mr Noh’s daughter, Ms Nurul Syazwani, wrested Permatang from Pakatan Harapan (PH) by garnering 12,850 votes against PKR’s Mohd Yahya Mat Sahri who got 11,122 votes.

Mr Noh, who was sacked from Umno in January on allegations that he had sabotaged the party, has since campaigned for PN and vowed to make Tanjong Karang – his former parliamentary ward – a stronghold for the opposition coalition.

He, however, has not joined PN. Ms Nurul Syazwani quit Umno to join PN’s ally Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) after her father was sacked.

Mr Noh, a former six-term Tanjong Karang MP, said Umno’s defeat in northern Selangor seats was Dr Zahid’s own doing, including running the party “as if it were his own” without any consensus.

“The state election results showed many young voters in the Malay belt have chosen PN over BN (Barisan Nasional). The majority vote in Sungai Burong was over 6,000, which has never happened before,” he said.

In Johor Bahru, PKR’s Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim also urged Dr Zahid to step down as Umno head over the party’s defeat in 89 seats it had contested.

He said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, as the PH chairman and PKR president, managed to hold on to the three PH strongholds of Selangor, Negri Sembilan and Penang.

“Yes, there were some seats that were lost to PN but PH, under Datuk Seri Anwar’s leadership, has retained its three states. Continuous support should be given to Anwar,” added Mr Hassan.

He said Datuk Seri Anwar should now review and study the results before the next general election.

“The most important thing for Anwar to do in preparation for that is to regain the Malay support which has by and large gone to PN,” he said in a statement. THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK