UMNO AGM Slightly more than a year ago, the police, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), Bank Negara and the Attorney-General's Chambers came together to investigate one of the country's biggest financial scandal in the form of 1MDB.

It was a period of upheaval for Umno, as senior leaders began to question Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's role in the 1MDB scandal.

Fast forward to today, the Umno rebellion had been quelled and the multi-agency task force investigating 1MDB is also no longer in existence.

Instead, it has been reconstituted to face a new enemy, according to acting Umno deputy president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is also home minister and deputy prime minister.

Speaking at the closing of the 70th Umno annual general assembly in Kuala Lumpur today, Zahid said he had been tasked by Najib to deal with foreign elements trying to spark a revolution in the country.

He claimed these elements included human rights group Suaram, electoral reform group Bersih, the Bar Council, news portal Malaysiakini and whistle blower portal Sarawak Report.

"The question is, what is the next course of action?

"I would like to announce that the government is forming a task force comprising the police, MACC, Bank Negara and AG's Chambers to seek out even the smallest of information (about these elements)," he said.

Zahid, in his winding-up speech, urged Umno delegates to honour the police for taking action as the hall erupted in cheers.

Earlier in his speech, Zahid said the organisations he named had received funding from organisations linked to US billionaire George Soros.

He claimed the billionaire's organisation, including Open Society Foundations (OSF) was responsible for the colour revolution throughout Eastern Europe.

"This revolutions later spread to the Middle East... it is known as the Arab Spring," he said.

Bersih, Zahid said, was trying to spark a "yellow revolution" in Malaysia in the form of the Bersih 5 rally. However, Zahid declared it a failure.

OSF had denied trying to overthrow the government and organisations implicated by Zahid, including the Bar Council, Malaysiakini and Bersih have issued public explanations on the matter.

Zahid also took note of the red-shirts counter rally on Nov 19, insisting it had nothing to do with Umno.

"They may have used red, our party colour, but they represented an NGO, not Umno," he said.

In his speech, Zahid also emphasised the need to be loyal to Najib, and professed his own unwavering loyalty to the party president.

The task force on 1MDB was first revealed by inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar in March last year.

The task force stepped into public light when it began to issue public statements after the 1MDB scandal was highlighted in international reports including by the Wall Street Journal.

After the scandal exploded in July last year, Najib quickly moved to remove dissenting ministers amongst his cabinet, and they were later also purged from Umno.

MACC officers investigating 1MDB suddenly found themselves being arrested by police or transferred and the attorney-general at that time Abdul Gani Patail was replaced.

By August that year, the task force was barely functioning.

The MACC revealed new attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali had informed them the task force was no longer necessary but the AG's Chambers insisted it had not been dissolved.

Throughout the episode, Najib consistently denied wrongdoing or having used public funds for personal gain.

By January this year, Apandi cleared Najib of any wrongdoing.