Zaid: Aye for Razaleigh, nay for Ridhuan
Zaid Ibrahim says Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah would be a better candidate than Muhyiddin Yassin to lead this country and that Ridhuan Tee should not be speaking in any more roadshows.
(Free Malaysia Today) – While Dr Mahathir Mohamad has implied that Muhyiddin Yassin would be the “likely successor” once Prime Minister Najib Razak steps down, former law minister Zaid Ibrahim said someone like Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah would fit the bill better.
Writing in his blog after having attended the roadshow on Saturday in which Dr Mahathir spoke of the current political scene in the country, Zaid is of the opinion that the former prime minister did not exude much “enthusiasm” when he suggested Muhyiddin take over the reins of leadership from Najib when the latter eventually stepped down.
“I believe that by proposing Tengku Razaleigh, Dr Mahathir’s roadshows will be more meaningful,” Zaid said, explaining that this was because the current deputy prime minister would “stay neutral” and likely do little to check his boss until things really got out of hand. Razaleigh on the other hand, he reasoned had all the qualities that no one in the present crop of Umno leaders possessed.
Zaid also said that Mahathir proposing Razaleigh would show the rakyat that he wanted Umno to change as a whole, “and not just its leader”.
He recounted Razaleigh’s strengths saying he was able to empathise with the plight of the ordinary Malaysian and would be more willing to be a “friend” to them unlike present leaders in Putrajaya who were only chummy with tycoons and big businesses.
“I believe he (Razaleigh) will persuade those who have moved their money overseas to bring it back and then he will probably set aside the GST until the government itself knows what to do with the collection of the tax.”
He also believed Razaleigh would increase the minimum wage, create small banks to serve small traders and businesses and protect them from moneylenders.
