KUALA LUMPUR: An Umno veteran has urged vice-president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to go for the deputy president post instead of the No. 1 post in the party polls which will take place on June 30.
Umno Veteran Club’s secretary-general Datuk Mustapha Yaakub said the move would allow for the former deputy Prime Minister to support Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah’s bid for the top party post instead of going against him.
He said Umno needs an ‘external bomoh’ to rejuvenate the 73-year-old party which is now facing a crisis of confidence, following its poor performance in the 14th General Election (GE14).
He said Razaleigh or Ku Li as the Kelantan prince is also known, is a worthy candidate for the Umno presidency.
The 81-year-old is also not a member of the outgoing Umno Supreme Council.
“That’s what we want; therefore Perak Umno Veterans will support Ku Li as the candidate for president and Zahid as the candidate for the deputy president post.
“The (Umno) veterans are of the view that to solve the current crisis of confidence faced by Umno, we need an external ‘bomoh’ or an external doctor. An internal ‘bomoh’ cannot be utilised.
“Ku Li is an external bomoh, Ku Li is an external doctor,” he said when asked to comment on Umno grassroots’ insistence that Zahid gave way to Ku Li to allow for a breath of fresh air, in terms of its future leadership.
Mustapha said a similar situation can be alluded from Umno’s past, when party elections took place after Umno’s founder and first president Datuk Onn Jaafar quit the party in 1951.
“Tun Abdul Razak Hussein was then the deputy president, but at the party elections, he did not offer himself for the post of president.
“On the other hand, Tun Abdul Razak met Tunku Abdul Rahman asking him to go for the post of party president. The same theory could be adopted today,” he said.
Additional reporting by: Veena Babulal and Ahmad Suhael Adnan
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