Responding to a comment by PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli, accusing Zaid of having “a chequered past”, the former minister shot back with a tweet which seemed to be intent on giving the PKR leadership a reality check.
“Just because I don’t think Anwar can win the election for the opposition does not make my career useless.”
He followed that with another tweet: “Rafizi says I have a chequered political career. How? Must I go to jail to be a hero?
“If Rafizi is the future of Malaysia, then we really have no future. Here is a man who is scathing against anyone he disagrees with.”
Zaid’s tweets were a dismissal of Rafizi’s comments in an interview with news portal Malaysiakini today, which were made in response to a blog post by Zaid this morning.
Rafizi criticised him for creating “friendly fire” within the opposition over the issue of who should be prime minister if Pakatan Harapan wins the next general election (GE14).
The Pandan MP also called for Zaid, who joined DAP in February, to be more diplomatic in conveying any criticism.
He also alluded to a time when Zaid was a member of PKR, suggesting his presence had caused turmoil in the party now led by Anwar’s wife, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
Earlier today, Zaid had posted on his blog his thoughts on the actions of PKR members during the 12th PKR National Congress held in Shah Alam yesterday.
“PKR are busy proclaiming Anwar Ibrahim as the new ‘7th prime minister’, and as if that’s not enough, they have also announced party president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as the ‘seat warmer’ while waiting for the Chosen One to be ready to take the throne,” he had said.
He added that it was arrogant of the party to pick a prime minister-designate when the opposition had not even won anything yet.
He also said that the holding of placards with the words “Anwar the 7th PM” at the party congress showed a lack of finesse and “their lack of respect to both Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Muhyiddin Yassin who were present”.
Mahathir and Muhyiddin are chairman and president, respectively, of newest Pakatan Harapan component, PPBM.
After joining DAP earlier this year, Zaid had voiced his support for Mahathir as PM-designate.
Zaid has gone on record with his support for the former prime minister, saying that Mahathir had the track-record and proven credentials to take on current Prime Minister Najib Razak.
He justified this with the argument that the 91-year-old was the better leader when it came to managing the economy and taking good care of the people.
Meanwhile, Mahathir told FMT in an exclusive interview today that he has no intention of making a prime ministerial comeback.
He added that there was no point discussing the prime minister-designate if the coalition still fails to win at the next national polls.