KEMAMAN, May 14 — Former Terengganu mentri besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Said said Umno is in dire straits as most of its members felt that it would be difficult for the party to rise again after the people had rejected the Barisan Nasional (BN) in Wednesday’s 14th General Election (GE14).
The Kemaman Umno Division chief said the resignation of Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak as Umno president and BN chairman was “too little too late”, as the former prime minister was actually well aware of the decline in support among the people for the coalition way before GE14.
“Najib’s withdrawal from the party is a bit too late because we find that he should have decided to leave well ahead of the general election, after he saw the political situation in Malaysia at that time.
“This is because (Prime Minister) Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had come out with a statement that BN will lose if Najib did not step down, and that is exactly what has happened.
“When there are signs of dissidence and that the people do not need us anymore, it is time for us to step down. Now, it is no use crying over spilt milk. It is not easy to bounce back after what happened,” he told reporters at his residence in Telok Kalong here today.
Ahmad, who won the Kijal state seat in GE14, said he was confident of Dr Mahathir’s ability to revive the country’s economy based on the latter’s track record as prime minister for 22 years before this.
“I would like to congratulate Tun as this has never happened in history... After leaving the post for 15 years, he has returned to contest again and been given the trust by the people (to be prime minister),” he said.
Meanwhile, asked whether he would be joining PPBM, Ahmad said: “No comment. I have not met Tun M yet… Let’s see how it goes.” — Bernama
