PETALING JAYA: Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has openly admitted to being the mastermind behind Dr Mahathir Mohamad stepping down as prime minister.
Zahid, who is also deputy prime minister, said he did what he needed to do to save Umno from being deregistered as a political party.
"I must state, and admit, that I was the mastermind who brought down Mahathir at that time because there was no way Umno could be banned, insulted and accused of various things … labelled as thieves or corrupt," he said, according to Berita Harian.
Zahid said he was informed of the matter by now Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim that then home minister Muhyiddin Yassin was ready to make a move on cancelling Umno’s registration.
“Anwar told us that the document to deregister Umno was already on the (then) home minister’s desk.
“Given the situation, Umno members, particularly its leaders, relied on me to find the best approach to ensure the party was not deregistered. I had to find a way," he said at the launch of the Cameron Highlands Umno division meeting.
Zahid said he would reveal more on what had transpired then in his upcoming memoir.
"I’ve only told you about 10% of what happened. The remaining 90% would be in my book," he said, adding that he hoped his memoir would serve as a guide for future Umno leaders.
Mahathir stepped down as prime minister in February 2020, leading to the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government in what is known as the Sheraton Move.
This led to a new government formed by Bersatu, Barisan Nasional and a PKR faction led by Azmin Ali. Muhyiddin took over as prime minister.
