Zaid Ibrahim rejoins Umno

JOHOR BARU: Datuk Zaid Ibrahim has rejoined Umno, saying that he wants to reform the party from “within”.

The senior lawyer said that he handed over his membership form during a special Umno briefing at the World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur on Aug 27.

"My only intention is to help Umno. I have retired and there is not much work for me. I am not too busy and I go back to the party; I can help.

"I wish to see Umno more reform minded and more open into renewal where to do it, it must be from ‘within’," he said when met after attending a talk organised by Johor Baru Barisan Nasional at Balairaya Stulang Baru here on Friday (Sept 16).

The former minister added that his friends said it was difficult to make changes in Umno if it came from the “outside”.

"Finally, I feel that it is better for me to be with Umno even though the reform might take a long time," he said.

Zaid first joined Umno in 2000 where he contested and won the Kota Baru parliamentary seat during the 2004 general election.

However, Umno dropped him as a candidate in the GE12. Then prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi selected Zaid as a minister in his administration but the latter resigned from the Cabinet and was suspended from Umno in 2008.

In 2009, he joined PKR but resigned from the party a year later. Zaid then formed Parti Kesejahteraan Insan Tanah Air (Kita) in 2010 but resigned as its chief in 2012.

After Kita, Zaid joined DAP in 2017 but it only lasted for about three years, and he left his fourth political party in 2020.