The Umno president said the party’s present cooperation with DAP stemmed from a pragmatic approach aimed at ensuring political stability.
“I don’t have any issue with DAP, even though at one time I vowed ‘No Anwar, No DAP’,” he said, referring to the phrase he once used prior to the 2022 general election.
“But Allah had other plans and we were fated to become partners in the current government,” he told FMT in an interview held in conjunction with Umno’s general assembly.
He went on to dismiss claims of dissatisfaction among some Umno members with DAP, insisting that he had a good relationship with the party.
DAP, he said, played a huge role in Umno’s win at the Mahkota by-election.
“Their support helped Umno’s candidate achieve a 20,000-vote majority.”
In 2024, BN’s Syed Hussien Syed Abdullah won the Mahkota state seat with a majority of 20,648 votes, four times higher than the 5,166-vote margin BN achieved in the 2022 state election.
Zahid’s comment on Umno’s ties with the DAP came amid criticisms by the party’s youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh of Pakatan Harapan, in particular the DAP.
Akmal had also called for Umno to withdraw from the unity government at a special convention held on Jan 3, citing repeated violations of “red lines” involving Islam, the Malay community, and the monarchy.
Zahid went on to dismiss the notion that Malay and Muslim interests had been sidelined as DAP was part of the government.
DAP, he said, upheld the Federal Constitution and acknowledged that Malay and Islam were the country’s official language and religion.
“They no longer question the rights of the Malays and Bumiputeras.”
Zahid, the party’s president since 2018, also said Malaysia’s political landscape has evolved and now demands that parties work together in the country’s best interests.
Although it was at one time impossible for DAP and Umno to sit at the same table, the two parties are now able to join forces to ensure stability, he said.
Zahid said the government’s stability has restored confidence among foreign governments and prevented Malaysia from remaining trapped in the political uncertainty which prevailed in 2018 when Barisan Nasional lost control of the federal government to Pakatan Harapan.
“I am certain the people do not want a repeat of such an episode. The experience endured under three different governments since 2018 left a bitter taste,” he said, referring to rapid changes which saw three prime ministers — Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Muhyiddin Yassin and Ismail Sabri Yaakob — appointed within a three-year period.