'Zahid has support?' - Kadir tells of Dr M's response to Umno's proposal

Veteran newsman A Kadir Jasin said he had raised about reports of a possible Malay-only government with Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, particularly Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's bid to have his party to work with Bersatu.

However, Kadir, who is also the special media adviser to the prime minister and a Bersatu supreme council member, said Mahathir merely laughed off Zahid's support.

"The reports, among other things, allegedly quoted the OKT (the accused person) Zahid as saying something to the effect that Umno had no choice but work with Mahathir since PAS had done so.

"But when I mentioned this to the prime minister sometime later, he quipped: 'Dia (Zahid) ada sokongan ka?' (Has Zahid got the support?)," he said in a blog post today.

Kadir said Zahid was not someone Mahathir would take seriously on politics, considering the large number of corruption charges he is facing.

"Zahid is facing more than 30 charges for accepting bribes amounting to over RM40 million from an Umno-linked company and for pocketing money meant for charity.

"In that sense, Zahid isn’t the best person to be leading any multi-party negotiation and it would be odd for the prime minister to be talking serious politics with an OKT," he said.

The reality, Kadir (photo) said, is that Umno is in disarray, adding that talks of a Malay-only government, dubbed "Pakatan Nasional", come amid a crisis in Umno.

"Umno has been hit by a crisis of sorts. Several members of its ruling council, the majlis tertinggi (supreme council), had opposed the idea and said Zahid was not the right person to be engaging in any talk with Mahathir.

"It pits Zahid’s supporters against the diehards of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, and those who are independent of the two," he said, noting that Najib's stalwart Lokman Adam has also been sacked from Umno for attacking Zahid.

Kadir said he did not believe that a Malay or bumiputera-only government would be good for the country and had never taken it seriously until he was asked about it by a highly-educated and successful young Malay man.

He noted that the matter had cropped up after a picture of Mahathir meeting PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang (below) was circulated, followed by reports that the Umno supreme council had given an exclusive mandate for Zahid to negotiate with Mahathir.

"But that should not be a big deal. Mahathir met all manner of people – friends and foes. He met Hadi several times before," he said.

It has been speculated that Pakatan Nasional will comprise Bersatu, Umno, PAS, PKR rebels and bumiputera parties from Sabah and Sarawak.

"But based on the narratives of both Umno and PAS, the DAP seems to have no place in the alliance. That means there will be no meaningful non-bumiputera representation.

"Given its obvious Malay/Muslim-centric, the alliance, if ever it materialises, is not likely to get the automatic support of the bumiputera parties in Sabah and Sarawak, bearing in mind that the majority of bumiputera in the two Borneo states are not Muslims.

"Both Umno and PAS have taken to demonising the DAP as anti-Malay and anti-Islam in their attempts to undermine the Pakatan Harapan government and to rally the support of the Malays and Muslims.

"I have never bought into the mantra that the Malays and Muslims are threatened under Harapan. Instead, the Malays and Muslims became weak and tainted because of the corruption of the former Umno-led government," he said.

Therefore, Kadir said the so-called Pakatan Nasional is "nothing more than wild talks and social media feedstock".

However, he said he won't be surprised that such a proposal will crop up again in future.

"Having said that, I will, however, not discount the possibility of the existence of a second window to the proposition, that is, the transfer of power from Mahathir to (PKR president) Anwar Ibrahim," he said.