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ALOR STAR, May 19 (Bernama) -- Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad
Monday announced his resignation from Umno with immediate effect.
Dr Mahathir said he made the decision to leave Umno as he had lost confidence in
the party's present leadership for failing to protect the interests and
well-being of the Malays.
"I am quitting Umno today," he announced this before 1,000 people, mainly Kedah
Umno members, here.
The former Umno president said he would only return as an Umno member after
Prime Minister and Umno president Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi resigned from
the posts or was no longer the country's top leader.
"I will write a letter to Umno headquarters to inform that I had quit the
party," said Dr Mahathir who was prime minister and Umno president for 22 years.
Speaking to reporters after the function entitled "Fate of the Malay Race"
organised by the Kedah Malay Assembly Hall, a visibly disappointed Dr Mahathir
said he decided to leave Umno because he felt the party could no longer serve as
a genuine political party to protect Malay rights and interests, Umno's founding
objectives.
Expressing his dissatisfaction, Dr Mahathir, who has been an Umno member since
the party's formative year in 1946, claimed Umno had now been made a party to
merely recognise Abdullah as Umno president and accord importance to the prime
minister's family interests, with the nation's welfare taking a backseat.
"I can list out the things that Abdullah had done to the detriment of our
nation's interests.
"The Umno of today no longer holds to the party's founding goals when it was
formed 62 years ago. That is why I have no hesitation whatsoever to leave the
party," said Dr Mahathir, who was expelled from Umno in 1969 for breaching party
discipline when he criticised the then party leadership led by Tunku Abdul
Rahman Putra Al-Haj. Dr Mahathir was readmitted into Umno in 1972.
Dr Mahathir also invited Umno members, who shared his stand on the current Umno
leadership, to do the same but not to join another party.
"I believe this way will be effective. I will not ask people to do something
that I myself dare not do it," he said.
The former prime minister also expressed his disappointment over Umno members
being prevented by the party leadership from meeting him.
"Even to meet them, Umno members and division leaders are not allowed to see me.
What is this?" he asked.
Dr Mahathir said the Umno leadership's action had only created more
dissatisfaction and had portrayed Umno as undemocratic.
Asked whether his action would prompt Umno members to follow suit, Dr Mahathir
said: "I don't care as I was prevented from meeting party members."
Dr Mahathir said he believed his move to leave Umno would not have an impact on
the politics of the Malays.
"I was once thrown out of Umno and the Malay politics did not fade away. If the
Malays want to correct the situation, it's not because of my quitting. If they
are brave to save the party and the party's struggles, they must be brave to
act," he said.
Dr Mahathir reiterated that Abdullah must relinquish his prime minister's post
to ensure Umno's survival and if necessary, Umno members can pass a vote of no
confidence to force Abdullah to step down.
Asked whether his latest move to quit Umno was to apply pressure on Abdullah, Dr
Mahathir said: "I don't know about pressure because this man doesn't seem to
understand anything."
Asked whether his decision to quit Umno was linked to the Cabinet's decision to
instruct the attorney-general to initiate immediate investigations on
individuals named in the report by the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the
Datuk V.K. Lingam's video clip case, Dr Mahathir denied it.
"That is a court matter, they can accuse and if I am found guilty, I will be
sent to jail, but if I am not wrong, don't arrest me also," he said laughing.
The six people named in the 186-page report are Lingam; Umno secretary-general
Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor; tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan; two former
chief justices Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim and Tun Mohd Eusoff Chin and
Dr Mahathir.
Copies of the report will be sold to the public on Monday.
At the function, Dr Mahathir also expressed his disappointment with the present
Umno leaders who not only did not defend him but also criticised him.
"Before, people say I was serving the nation and they kiss my hand passionately
to the point of causing steam to emanate, but when I criticised Datuk Seri
Abdullah for not building the bridge (at the Johor Causeway), people condemned
me.
"Nobody in Umno came forward to defend me," he said regretfully.
Dr Mahathir, in his hour-long speech at the function, also fielded several
questions from the floor, which include on Abdullah's successor and measures to
revive Umno's political power.
He also reiterated his call to scrap the quota system for nominations to vie for
party posts at the Umno General Assembly in December.
He said Umno could convene a special assembly to get members' approval to
abolish the system.
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YA Dato' Ian Chin's Notes of Proceedings
