Bagan Datoh (BN) member of Parliament Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today thanked Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad for giving him the opportunity to present the royal address at the official opening of this years first Parliament session yesterday.

In his show of gratitude, Zahid reaped praises on Mahathir whom he described as a statesperson with an open attitude.

He was without prejudice towards me and gave me the opportunity to present this address although it is public knowledge that I did not see eye to eye with him, he said.

He also thanked Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi whom he said has given him a new lease of political life.

The opportunity to present this address is like a new chapter in the history of my political life, said Zahid, a former Umno Youth chief and an erstwhile ally of jailed ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim.

Four-hour praise

Zahids grovelling speech was not unexpected though his 45-page statement which took several hours to deliver raised eyebrows for its fawning content and the unusually long time he had hogged on the second day of this years first Parliament session.

Zahid became a controversial figure in 1996 when he incurred Mahathirs wrath by threatening to expose cronyism, nepotism and corruption in the party and to move to raise a vote of no confidence on the prime minister at the Umno Annual General Assembly of that year.

He rescinded when Mahathir countered with a threat to expose politicians who were also involved in business ventures. The list named Zahid as chairperson of several companies which included Bank Simpanan Nasional.

When Mahathir sacked Anwar in 1998, Zahid and the Malaysian Muslim Youth Organisation (Abim) went on a road show to garner support for Anwar.

Zahid was detained under the Internal Security Act for about a month and subsequently pressured to resign as Youth chief. During his detention, current Youth chief Hishamuddin Hussein took over as acting chief.

However, in 1999, Zahid was elected into Umnos supreme council with the third highest votes.

A political giant

In his commendation speech in Parliament today, Zahid said Mahathir was one of several political giants who have emerged in Afro-Asian countries and stood tall in the arena of international politics.

In this era of post-modernism, Mahathir has been placed on the same level as those great names, not only because he is vocal and speaks his mind in a group which often neglects the voices of smaller nations.

But this is due to his courage in raising contradictory viewpoints to dispute conventional economic theories which used to be a jargon without taking into account the relevancy of the current situation, he added.

Zahid said the premier has proven that excessive dependency on an economic model that does not accommodate local conditions will eventually destroy a country.