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Bersatu leader: How my mom ditched her 40-year Umno membership

INTERVIEW | Mohd Rafiq Naizamohideen, 31, comes from a family of Umno members. He joined Umno as soon as he turned 18, and went on to become the youngest Umno Youth exco member at the time, at the age of 27.

However, Rafiq's admiration for Dr Mahathir Mohamad catalysed a series of events that set him on the same path as the former prime minister. Today, he is a Bersatu supreme council member as well as the Malacca Bersatu deputy chief.

Despite being the odd one out among his Umno leader siblings, Rafiq managed to convince his 69-year-old mother Hanifah Othman to abandon her 40-year Umno membership.

"I did my part in explaining to my mother about current issues (such as alleged) misuse of power by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and the cost of living.

"My mother trusted my explanation," he told Malaysiakini in an interview.

Hanifah's decision to switch to Bersatu was further driven by the manner in which Umno treated her son for simply trying to organise a talk for Mahathir in Malacca.

Despite pleading that he only had good intentions, the Umno leadership suspended Rafiq for six years...

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