PETALING JAYA: Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has accused Dr Mahathir Mohamad of indoctrinating party members into hating DAP, in defending its recent alliance with the party.
“He was the one who indoctrinated us for 22 years and portrayed a negative picture of the party,” he said in a talk last night.
Zahid said this when asked to respond to the anger over Umno’s alliance with DAP, despite declaring before the 15th general election that it would not work with the party.
Umno is now part of a unity government which also comprises DAP, with Zahid the deputy prime minister.
Zahid also pointed out that its political rivals, Bersatu and PAS, had joined forces with DAP in the past. Bersatu was previously part of Pakatan Harapan, and PAS was previously part of Pakatan Rakyat.
In 2017, Mahathir admitted to demonising DAP when he was in Umno.
Zahid, who is also the Barisan Nasional chairman, said BN should be grateful that it was given six ministerial posts in Anwar Ibrahim’s administration.
This was especially so when taking into account that BN only secured 30 seats in GE15.
In comparison, DAP was given only four ministerial positions despite having won 40 seats.
“We should be grateful to the prime minister,” he said.
Zahid also cited “divine intervention” for BN being part of the unity government when it should have remained in the opposition based on its performance in the elections.
The five other BN leaders who were made ministers were Mohamad Hasan (defence), Zambry Abdul Kadir (foreign affairs), Azalina Othman Said (law and institutional reforms), Khaled Nordin (higher education) and Tengku Zafrul Aziz (international trade and industry).
