KUALA LUMPUR: Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today said he paid the high price for disagreeing to dissolve Umno and was later subjected to selective prosecution where he was slapped with 87 graft charges.
Zahid said the idea to dissolve Umno was put to him by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad after the victory of Pakatan Harapan in the last general election to drive all Umno members to join Bersatu.
''But I never budged, even an inch, and defended Umno. If I had adhered to the dissolution of Umno and jumped parties, there would have been nothing on me. Free from selective prosecution.
'This is because several members of parliament (MP) who jumped party by leaving Umno and Barisan Nasional and had joined Bersatu as they were afraid to be probed by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency, although they had received money from 1Malaysia Development Berhad," said Zahid in a Facebook post today, adding that he had brought up the matter in court before.
Despite that, Zahid, who is Bagan Datuk MP, said he stood by Umno and he faced the selective prosecution fearlessly.
The Barisan Nasional chairman said it was evident that Umno was to be replaced by Bersatu which was set up by Dr Mahathir, who often said his former party was no longer relevant and made all sorts of accusations against the party and its leaders.
Dr Mahathir's aim was to incite Umno members to hate a Malay-based party which had contributed much to the society and the country, claimed Zahid.
"It was a desperate move by Dr Mahathir when he asked me to dissolve Umno. He was at that time the chairman of Bersatu and Prime Minister. I fumed listening to that.
"When I was asked to jump party, to leave Umno and join Bersatu, I had strictly rejected Dr Mahathir's requests and to dissolve Umno.
"I did not betray Umno although at that time it lost many of its elected representatives who jumped ship, stayed away from the party and thought Umno would not have the ability to come back as the government,"he said.