Zahid: hero or zero?

Was Ahmad Zahid Hamidi the ‘mastermind’ who toppled Dr Mahathir Mohamad as prime minister, or did Mahathir resign because his advice was rejected?

Romen Bose, FMT

I find the ongoing war of words between former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi over how the nonagenarian’s fall from power in 2020 came to pass rather fascinating.

Mahathir’s controversial resignation and the self-inflicted implosion of Pakatan Harapan 1.0 on Feb 24, 2020, saw an unelected coalition of ultra-nationalist lawmakers led by Muhyiddin Yassin, the president of Bersatu, of which Mahathir was chairman, seizing power.

Muhyiddin, who took over as prime minister shortly after, was joined by several other political parties, including Umno and PAS, in an act that threw Malaysia further into political chaos at that time.

On Aug 10, 2024, while addressing the Cameron Highlands Umno delegates’ meeting in Sungai Koyan, Zahid claimed that he had masterminded the toppling of then prime minister Mahathir to save Umno.

“I must admit that I was the mastermind who brought down Dr Mahathir at the time – for Umno’s sake, (to prevent the party from being) banned, insulted and brought down by slander,” he was quoted by Berita Harian as saying.

Within days, Mahathir rubbished Zahid’s claim, insisting that his resignation had nothing to do with any external pressure from the Umno president.

“I resigned from Bersatu because they rejected my advice.

“Zahid is not a hero. He is a person who was accused in court and willing to allow Umno to cooperate with its bitter enemy DAP to become the deputy prime minister and save himself from being tried in court for the criminal charges,” said Mahathir.

So, was Mahathir pushed into resigning or did he jump?

PH1.0’s implosion really began with Mahathir’s unwillingness, following his win at the 14th general election, to hand over power to Anwar Ibrahim.

As part of his machinations, he tasked Muhyiddin with the challenge of building a Grand Malay Alliance or coalition of parties, that would include Bersatu, Umno and PAS, in a bid to ensure that Mahathir would have enough seats to form a government without Anwar and his supporters within PKR, and the DAP.

And to get Umno onboard, Mahathir allegedly ordered Zahid to abandon the party and get its lawmakers to join Bersatu. Zahid clearly needed to do something to save Umno, and the solution eventually appeared to be this movement, the forerunner to the Perikatan Nasional coalition.

While Mahathir’s vision for the movement meant Umno would be swallowed up by Bersatu, Muhyiddin’s more pragmatic approach meant Umno would end up being accepted as a separate coalition member.

Funnily enough, in late 2019, Umno as part of this movement, strongly supported a planned vote of confidence in the Dewan Rakyat to allow Mahathir to finish his term as prime minister, instead of handing power over to Anwar. Not much toppling here, then.

However, Mahathir quickly lost control of the situation when the movement – eventually controlled by Muhyiddin, Zahid and then PKR deputy president Azmin Ali – began to take a life of its own, supposedly defending Mahathir, but in reality, looking to seize power.

Following a heated PH presidential council meeting on Feb 21, 2020 that allowed Mahathir to choose when he would resign after the APEC meetings in November that year, Muhyiddin and Azmin believed they had to act quickly to stop Mahathir from handing power over to Anwar.

So, on Feb 23, Bersatu and all its other future coalition partners held separate party supreme council meetings to implement that day itself the formation of a new PN coalition, with Muhyiddin and other leaders attempting to convince Mahathir to authorise a coup.

But Mahathir refused – despite Muhyiddin telling him that he had the numbers – as he did not want to work with Umno.

The Bersatu Supreme Council then agreed to give Mahathir until the end of the week to decide on when to announce the party’s pull-out from PH1.0 and the formation of PN.

Later that day, leaders of the PN coalition, namely Muhyiddin, Azmin, Zahid, Hadi Awang, Abang Johari Openg and Shafie Apdal, turned up at Mahathir’s home to try and convince him to set up the new coalition immediately, but he still demurred.

However, the momentum to form the coalition was so great that some of the leaders agreed to head to Sheraton Hotel, where they would announce the formation of the new coalition regardless.

Mahathir got wind of the plan and despatched then cabinet minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman to the hotel to get the plotters to stand down. Syed Saddiq got there with minutes to spare and stopped the plan. But only temporarily.

The next day, Mahathir reassured Anwar, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Mohamad Sabu and Lim Guan Eng that he had nothing to do with the plot the day before, but once they left, Muhyiddin met Mahathir and told him Bersatu’s leaders were adamant they wanted to leave PH1.0 that afternoon.

The planned pull-out would only cause the PH1.0 coalition to collapse, he said, although Mahathir would still have the confidence of the majority of lawmakers to carry on as prime minister.

Realising that he had been out-manoeuvred by Muhyiddin and Azmin into implementing the very thing he had planned to do all along, that he had lost control of Bersatu, and believing that he still had the support of the majority of lawmakers who would eventually clamour for his return, a sulking Mahathir resigned on Feb 24, 2020 as prime minister, Bersatu chairman and chairman of PH1.0.

But, in a surprise move, Umno and PAS later withdrew their support for him and called for fresh elections as they could not agree to Mahathir’s idea of a unity government that would include DAP and PKR.

The remaining PH coalition partners were also unable to accept Mahathir’s unity government plan as Mahathir wanted the sole say on who would be in the Cabinet, thus eliminating any influence the coalition parties would have on the government.

It was at this point that Muhyiddin and his team realised that the premiership was within their grasp, and secretly negotiated with Zahid, Azmin and Hadi, to build enough support for Muhyiddin to out-manoeuvre Mahathir and take over as prime minister.

Zahid played a crucial role in this, bringing together the various parties and forging an agreement that would see Muhyiddin become the chief occupant of Perdana Putra.

So, did a mastermind topple Mahathir from power or did Mahathir resign because his advice was rejected?

Well, as is the way with many politicians, and as the American writer Mark Twain put it so well,

“Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.”