KUALA LUMPUR, March 12 — Umno is no longer a party that stands for Malay and Bumiputera interests but those of a single person, according to its former deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who has since founded his own party, Bersatu.
The Bersatu president also claimed that democracy is “dead” in Umno, and that the country’s biggest political party has become a “tool” to protect the dominance of its one-time nemesis Pakatan Harapan (PH) since joining forces with the latter last November to be part of the government.
“Democracy is also dead in Umno. The party’s constitution has been broken merely to defend the interests of one individual. They have gone from a party that fights for all Malays and Bumiputera to look after the interests of one individual.
“This individual is also protected by the PH government leadership. For PH to remain in power they need to protect this individual who controls Umno. By controlling this individual PH remains in power,” he told hundreds of Bersatu delegates attending the party’s annual general assembly here today.
Muhyiddin did not openly name the individual in his speech but appeared to be alluding to Umno president Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi.
Umno is holding its internal elections now and was recently exempted from a deregistration provision under the Societies Act after its delegates approved a no-contest motion at its last general assembly in January for the party’s top two posts, thereby maintaining Zahid’s incumbency as president as well as that of his deputy Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.
Muhyiddin claimed the unnamed individual to be responsible for hammering the “last nail” into Umno.
“Under this person it’s not about Malay empowerment, everything is a tool to further strengthen PH. For the majority of Malays in Malaysia we know this is the end of the line for Umno.
“It is the final nail in Umno’s coffin,” he said.
PH won the most seats of any coalition in GE15 last November, but was still short of the 112 needed for a simple majority to form the government on its own.
After several days of negotiation, it finally reached an agreement for a coalition government with Barisan Nasional, which is led by Zahid, with two major coalitions in Sarawak and Sabah — GPS and GRS — joining later.
