KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 12 – Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today said the party will do its best to ensure that its remaining parliamentarians will stay loyal after an exodus of leaders nearly wiped Umno out in Sabah.

He told reporters here that the party would not know if anyone else were planning to leave but this was an issue that those loyal would have to face together.

“We can’t do any predictions on the matter. We will try as much as we can to maintain our existing MPs, and any possibility that arises, we will face it together,” he told reporters here.

The Bagan Datuk MP also spoke of “actions done by some individuals” when asked about the possibility of more resignations but it was unclear what he was referring to though he also admitted to being clueless as to the end game of these individuals.

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“And from what we observed, we found that there are some actions done by some individuals, but we are not able to predict from the start what their goal is,” he said without elaborating.

It is open to speculation as to whether Zahid was hinting at a possible movement within his party to court more members out.

Earlier today, Sabah Umno leaders including nine out of ten state assemblymen and five out of six MPs, two party senators, two Umno Supreme Council members and a majority of its state committee opted to quit the party.

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Former state liaison chief Datuk Hajiji Noor said they were also expecting Wanita and Puteri division chiefs to leave. About nine out of 25 youth division chiefs are also believed to be leaving the party.

However, in a statement later, Sabah Umno Wanita wing chief Datuk Jainab Ahmad Ayid said said that the Wing is undecided about renouncing its allegiance to Umno, and would first hold discussions with its members in the state’s divisions.

“The Wanita Umno wings of Umno divisions will make a decision after finalising discussions with Wanita Umno members, to gauge their response, and will resign en masse if the need arises, and we will send the forms to those necessary,” Jainab said.

The mass exodus has left the party with one assemblyman and one MP in Datuk Seri Musa Aman and  Kinabatangan MP Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin respectively.

Most of its division chiefs also left, with the exception of three, including Bung’s Kinabatangan division.

Sabah Umno said that the unclear political direction of the Malay nationalist party was no longer serving the party’s interest.