PETALING JAYA: Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has revealed that he was the mastermind behind an effort to remove Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as the prime minister.
The Umno president said he was forced to take the 'extraordinary' measure to prevent Dr Mahathir from banning Umno when the latter held the prime minister post.
"When it was made known that Umno was going to be banned and this was confirmed by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim while he was at the Institut Latihan Memperkasa Ummah (Ilmu), in Janda Baik, Pahang, the banning order was already on the desk of the Home Minister (Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin) at that time.
"So in that situation, of course, all the members, especially the top Umno leadership, looked to me to find the best way to ensure that Umno would not be banned," he said.
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Ahmad Zahid, also the Deputy Prime Minister, was reported as saying this by Sinar Harian in his opening speech at the Cameron Highlands Umno division meeting on Saturday (Aug 10).
Also present at the meeting was Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail, who is also the division chief and Pahang Mentri Besar.
At the same time, Ahmad Zahid also reminded delegates during his presidential closing speech at the Umno General Assembly in 2018.
"I mentioned that, soon we would become part of the government, but I was mocked by certain individuals who were no longer in Umno.
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"In that situation, here in Jelai, in Sungai Koyan, I must state and admit that I was the mastermind behind the removal of Dr Mahathir at that time.
"For the sake of Umno, it was not possible to allow the party to be banned, humiliated, and toppled with various slanders," he said.
He added that all remaining details of these stories would be detailed in a book later.
"Earlier, I only shared 10% of it. The remaining 90% will be in my book. Usually, people will write books when they retire, but I’m not planning to retire yet as long as Umno is not the dominant party.
"As long as that is the case, my colleagues and I will remain in Umno.
"Hopefully, it will serve as a guide for future Umno leaders who will take my place later," added Ahmad Zahid.
