Select a leader now, Zaid tells Opposition

Former minister Zaid Ibrahim today suggested that Umno dissidents and Pakatan Harapan leaders meet in conclave to select a leader to be the face of the Opposition force.
He said he had earlier laid faith in Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah but that the Kelantan prince had been a big letdown, as evidenced by his recent statements in Umno-linked news outlets.
Zaid said in his blog that the Malays had been let down by both Umno and PAS and were now looking for new leadership.
“I would like to suggest that Pakatan Harapan and the ex-Umno forces join hands and start believing in one another. They need to deliver a new message to the Malays, who have been let down by the two giants of Malay politics.
“For this to be effective they must select one of them to be the leader. They need to join other non-political forces waiting to be called, eager to save the country. But they need to have a leader.”
He said for this to happen, ex-Umno members should not want to return to their party or claim to still have Umno blood in them. “I am assuming that one of them is willing to start and head a movement for a new and mature politics for the country.”
Pakatan Harapan, on its part, should be willing to consider anyone other than PKR President Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to lead the Opposition in the next general election, he added.
Apologising for pushing for Tengku Razaleigh earlier, Zaid said his hopes now rested on the young Pakatan Harapan leaders and ex-Umno leaders.
“More than anything else at this juncture of the nation’s history, Malays need leaders who can speak truthfully; and who place importance on good values. I don’t just mean honesty in the sense that they won’t steal from the nation’s coffers, but honesty in their words and deeds in their everyday lives.”
He said previously, the Malays trusted PAS and its message of Islam as the vehicle for the deliverance of the Malays. The Malays followed whatever the ulama said, including not praying in mosques where Umno members prayed and seeing Umno as haram.
Now, Zaid said, the ulama were “pulling an about-face and telling the Malays that Umno is a buddy after all; that there are no witnesses to 1MDB; and so on and so forth. Umno is now kosher… What do these followers now feel?”
In the meantime, he said, leaders from Umno had managed to convince Malays that if they trusted them without question, then the party would take care of them and their families and safeguard Malay interests.
“Now Malays know better. The Umno Malays (who think, breathe and talk Umno) have lost their capacity to understand simple things like the difference between right and wrong and truth and lies, because Umno’s guiding philosophy is to defend their supreme leader, regardless of his guilt or innocence. That is the highest duty they must uphold.
“Fortunately, many Malays today realise they have been misled by the two groups of leaders… Now they know that PAS is not fit to teach them religion, and Umno is not fit to teach them ethics, nor to govern. It’s a good omen that PAS and Umno are now buddies.”


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