Zaid Ibrahim has sought protection from inspector-general of police Mohd Fuzi Harun following Sungai Besar Umno chief Jamal Md Yunos' threat to hit the former minister on the head with a sledgehammer.

“I am worried about my safety and that of my family over the threat by Jamal and his Umno friends to hit my head with a sledgehammer. I hope the gentleman IGP will protect us.

“I cannot hope for the Umno top leadership to diffuse the situation. So we have to depend on the police,” he tweeted.

This morning, Jamal had smashed a cardboard cutout of Zahid with a sledgehammer outside the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) in Kuala Lumpur, where Umno is holding its general assembly.

The Umno man, who is known for his wild antics, also warned that he would “hunt down” Zaid if the authorities failed to act against the latter.

“Why the delay in acting against this 'animal'. We cannot stand it, we the people of Selangor have lost our patience.

“If there is no action (from the authorities), tomorrow this hammer will 'visit' his (Zaid's) head,” he told reporters.

Yesterday, Jamal had torched cardboard cutouts of Zaid at the same venue, which prompted the latter to file a police report.

Jamal is seeing red over Zaid's remarks concerning Selangor ruler Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah's warning that former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad's anger would raze the nation.

The sultan himself had expressed displeasure with Zaid's remarks and told the latter to return to his home state of Kelantan if he disagreed with him.

Police are investigating Zaid under the Sedition Act.

Meanwhile, Fuzi said the police are investigating Jamal's actions after receiving several police reports.

He also said that no police protection has been assigned for Zaid at the moment.

"We cannot take care (within) 24 hours... let the police investigate Jamal first before deciding whether or not he (Zaid) needs police protection," he told The Malaysian Insight.