Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today spoke of the "punishing" conditions imposed on Umno and the humiliation it suffered in a number of meetings he attended, although he remained cryptic on the nature of these meets.
The Umno president said during the first of these meetings, he not only faced rejection but insults.
"It was not just rejection, but also humiliation, as if Umno is as unclean as the faeces of animals deemed haram.
"If we accepted that humiliation, there were two requests. Firstly, Umno must be dissolved. (Secondly) Umno members must jump to a new party.
"That means Umno's seven decades of history would be erased, supposedly because people hated Umno so much," he said in a dialogue with party members in Kuala Lumpur today.
He noted that he had to pay a heavy price for his insistence that the party would not be dissolved, and pointed out that he was only the acting president at the time of said meeting.
'Punishing conditions'
Zahid also recounted how he brought his deputy and vice-presidents for a later meeting.
"But even more punishing conditions were imposed.
"When we were humiliated, my colleagues in the Umno supreme council gave me their unwavering mandate to support my stance that we would never switch parties nor dissolve this sacred party," he said.
For this, Zahid said, he and his colleagues had to pay an even heavier price, but did not disclose what this was.
"Even if I have been rejected, shamed and humiliated, dissolving Umno will never be in my political vocabulary," he stressed.
On June 7, about a month after Umno was defeated in the 14th general election, Zahid had met with Prime Minister and Bersatu chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Three months later, Zahid confirmed that he had met with Mahathir twice, but refused to divulge any information on what transpired in these meetings.
Zahid said his engagement during the meeting was mistaken, leading to the reaction that he received.
He added that it was not intended for Umno leaders to jump over to the party he had met up with.
"We wanted to give them (the party) the opportunity to strengthen the small voice that they have through our support, not join them.
"But there was confusion when we faced rejection and humiliation," he said.
Pakatan Harapan and its allies swept to power in the 14th general election, winning 121 of the 222 seats in the Dewan Rakyat. However, Bersatu only controlled 13 seats at the time.
Despite losing power, Umno won 54 parliamentary seats, although this has been reduced to 38 seats after an exodus of its leaders.
At least three former Umno MPs have now joined Bersatu.
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