KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 ― Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman announced today his bid to be one of Umno’s three vice-presidents in the party elections this year.

In a news conference announcing his candidacy, the Pasir Salak MP said he has principles and will not kow-tow to the top leadership’s power easily.

"I will not be a ‘yes man’ or an ‘apple polisher’... I have principles,” he told reporters at the Putra World Trade Centre this evening.

"I had previously raised on issues such as 1MDB, political donations, and source of funding given at the grassroots level, but I was not able to make a decision on it. At the time, I was just a less important leader and had no power… I had reminded [Najib], but let us take it as a lesson,” he added, referring to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad corruption scandal for which former Umno president and former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is under investigation.

The former Umno supreme council member pledged to work hard and said he will champion the party’s cause in defending the Malays and Islam if he wins.

"I believe if I sit as the vice president, whoever gets chosen as president will have to listen to the vice presidents and cannot make decisions on their own. We don’t want what had happened then to repeat again,” he said.

Asked why he did not aim for the deputy president post, Tajuddin said, "we have to look at ourselves (if worthy of it). But if you look at my profile, it isn’t so bad.”

Citing an analysis he made himself after the recent general elections, Tajuddin claims the Malay party still has strong support from the Malay community of 46 per cent, which he said was "a huge number.”

"Umno won 54 seats… even the loss we had at state level were slim by small number of seats,” he said, quoting Negri Sembilan and Malacca as examples.

"No one can take down Umno. We have 3.7 million members.”

Other Umno members running for vice presidency are Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, Umno supreme council member Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid and Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim.