Leader of party that lost all its deposits in GE15 is 'bodoh sombong', says Zahid

KANGAR: The leader of a party where all its candidates lost their deposits during the 15th General Election (GE15) has been described as "bodoh sombong (stupid and arrogant)" by Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for not wanting to work with the parties in the unity government coalition.

Umno president said the leader was arrogant because he was not willing to work with parties in the ruling government while, at the same time, Perikatan Nasional had rejected its application to join the Opposition bloc.

"I wish very good luck to that party, hopefully they will continue to lose all deposits when they contest in the upcoming state elections," he said.

The Deputy Prime Minister said the agenda of the Malays and Islam was already enshrined in the Federal Constitution.

He said the component parties in the unity government coalition, although multiracial in nature, had never forgotten the Malay and Muslim agenda but at the same time, did not set aside other races and religions.

He urged the said leader to overcome his own party problems first before commenting or giving statements about Umno or any other parties in the unity government.

On Thursday (May 11) night, Parti Pejuang Tanah Air president Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir said his party was open to working with any Malay-based parties for the upcoming state elections except for Umno.

He said that Umno was tainted with corruption and Pejuang would only consider working with "ethical '' Malay parties.

In March this year, Perikatan had turned down Pejuang's application to join the coalition after the latter applied to join it on the basis of not wanting to split the Malay votes.

Ahmad Zahid was earlier at the Hari Raya Aidilfitri open house hosted by Perlis Umno at Dewan Sivik Arau on Friday (May 12).

Present during the event were state Umno chief and Arau division chief Datuk Rozabil Abdul Rahman as well as state Umno and Pakatan Harapan leaders.