Umno Supreme Council member Lokman Adam has ripped into party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for allegedly wanting to work with Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Disagreeing with the move, he called Zahid (above) a “weak” leader and pressured him to resign.

“I am very ashamed today because I have a president who is weak and has no principles.

“Zahid suddenly appeared in a Jawatankuasa Perhimpunan Muafakat Nasional Umno meeting today that was chaired by (Umno Supreme Council member) Tajuddin Abdul Rahman and gave four main reasons why he wanted Umno to work with Mahathir,” Lokman said in a statement.

The statement was accompanied by an audio recording that lasted three minutes and 18 seconds.

In the clip, a voice akin to Zahid’s did not explicitly say he wanted to work with Mahathir.

He was heard saying he wanted to save Umno and did not want the opposition party to be “left behind”.

Fresh party polls now

According to Lokman, Zahid had reasoned during the meeting that Umno ought to work with Mahathir because PAS wanted to do so, and he did not want Umno to be left behind.

Zahid had also reasoned that problems facing “Bossku”, referring to embattled former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, could not be solved without collaborating with Mahathir.

During today’s meeting, Lokman (above, right) said Zahid further claimed that there were efforts to deregister Umno, and such a move would only make party members join PAS.

Zahid apparently told the meeting that he chose not to use his presidential veto powers to make Umno work with Mahathir but decided to present the idea to the supreme council instead.

Commenting on Zahid’s alleged reasons, Lokman said he ought to step down and pave way for fresh party polls.

“Just because Umno stands to be deregistered and Umno’s accounts have been frozen by a cruel dictator named Mahathir, the only solution that Zahid can manage is to bow to Mahathir and try to work with him.

“If this is all Zahid can do, then he ought to resign as Umno president.

“It is better to have another party election now so that party members have the right to choose between a team that wants to oppose Mahathir and a team that wants to work with him,” he said.

Lokman further accused Zahid of violating party discipline and sidelining party grassroots with his suggestion to collaborate with Mahathir.

Malaysiakini has reached out to Zahid for comment.