‘Right or wrong, I stood by my leaders’

“I am confident Umno will be okay. I won’t let any individual destroy the leadership as what is being done by Muhyiddin, Shafie (Apdal), Mukhriz Mahathir and Mahathir now. I hope they leave the party.”

(FMT) – Umno Supreme Council member Nazri Aziz has said he hoped suspended Deputy President Muhyiddin Yassin would also leave Umno soon, along with other rebel leaders.

Nazri said the most important thing in Umno was loyalty towards the president, which had proven time and time again to be the saving grace of the party.

He said during his time in the party, there was much unrest and turbulence, such as the sacking of Umno leader Harun Idris by Umno president Hussein Onn as well as Umno president Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s quarrel with various people like Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, Musa Hitam and Anwar Ibrahim.

“Umno members are used to this kind of thing. The most important part is to take care of the party. Whatever happens, we must make sure Umno will not crumble.

“I was Anwar Ibrahim’s good friend. Same school and he was my youth leader; I was his strong supporter.

“But when Mahathir quarrelled with him, we stood by Mahathir. When he took on Pak Lah (Abdullah Ahmad Badawi), I no longer cared about him.

“Mahathir likes to quarrel. If we follow him, we will die.

“I am confident Umno will be okay. I won’t let any individual destroy the leadership as what is being done by Muhyiddin, Shafie (Apdal), Mukhriz Mahathir and Mahathir now. I hope they leave the party,” he told FMT in an interview on Sunday.

Mahathir yesterday announced his resignation in Umno for the second time since 2008 and has expressed hope that Muhyiddin will join him in forming another “core team”.

His son, Mukhriz, is also widely expected to do the same by Umno leaders and analysts.

Nazri also took a jibe at Muhyddin, expressing his “admiration” for Ismail Mohammed, the Pagoh Umno division deputy chief, who defended his boss after his suspension by the Umno Supreme Council.

Saying Muhyiddin should emulate him, he said that was exactly the situation during Mahathir’s time.

“Muhyiddin should learn from him. He (Ismail) defended his boss. I won’t be angry with him. We did the same thing during Mahathir’s time. Even though there were many things wrong, we still defended him (Mahathir).”

Nazri sarcastically quipped that no one should take action against Ismail or Pagoh division for “doing the right thing”.

“Don’t take any action against him (Ismail). We understand he ‘eats’ out of Muhyiddin’s hands. His spirit and loyalty to the leader is good; please don’t get angry with him. I admire him.”