KUALA LUMPUR: Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today took a swipe at the opposition for having "six captains in a ship".
He said, in order to have a successful political coalition, the leaders and members must let one person to administer and "steer the ship".
"In order to be part of a political ship, we need a strong durability. When a ship is being steered by a captain, there shouldn't be a second or third captain. One is enough.
"There's a ship with six captains. It's not only in a mess but they also don't have a clear direction. Let the sailors help the main captain and his assistant," he said in an apparent reference to the leadership structure of Pakatan Harapan.
The leadership structure of Pakatan Harapan comprises Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as its de facto leader, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as the chairman and Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as the president.
Zahid however did not mention any names when making the remark or who the other three "captains" he was referring to.
He said this after officiating the 7thParliamentary Internship Programme (Mantap) at the Parliament building here today.
The Umno vice-president further said that if "the other ship" continues to have six captains, it will never bring a bright future to its followers.
"If the ship has six captains, we can't put harapan (hope) in them although the pakatan (partnership) of the ship wants to provide hope. There is no future.
"It can only happen if the rest of us help the main captain so that our political ship will reach its destination," he added.
Reports by : Arfa Yunus, Fernando Fong, Veena Babulal