Zahid denies that Anwar was ever his 'teacher'

Umno AGM | Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi denied that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had ever been his "teacher".

"Actually, I never 'studied' under him. A clever student doesn't need a teacher.

"The person who did learn from him is my wife Kak Midah (Hamidah Khamis), but it is up to her whether she wants to respect him or not.

"She used to respect him, but now it is up to her," Zahid said in his winding-up speech at the Umno annual general meeting at the Kuala Lumpur World Trade Centre (WTC KL) this evening.

Yesterday, during his policy speech, Zahid delivered a jibe at Anwar by borrowing the viral TikTok catchphrase "guru, hentikan, guru" (teacher, stop it, teacher).

While not mentioning Anwar's name, it is understood that Zahid was playing on their often-described teacher-student relationship that gained attention following a leaked recording of their phone conversation in 2021.

"Cukup, cukup lah, guru! (Enough, teacher, enough!). Please listen to us, teacher. Listen to the rakyat's voice, teacher. Enough is enough.

"InsyaAllah we can do better than what the teacher is doing," Zahid said, alluding to the idea that Umno can be a better government.

Anwar then responded in a social media post announcing his arrival in India by referring to himself as “guru” and signing off with “slayyy”, in reference to Zahid's use of the lingo.

Umno’s past challenges

Zahid later turned to Umno’s political history, saying Dewan Merdeka in WTC KL had witnessed some of the party’s fiercest internal battles and biggest setbacks.

He cited the Dr Mahathir Mohamad-Ghaffar Baba and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah-Musa Hitam rivalry in the late 1980s, Umno’s deregistration, and the 1998 crisis, referring to Anwar’s sacking from the party.

The hall, he added, had also witnessed Umno lose its two-thirds parliamentary majority and, in 2018, federal power.

However, Zahid stressed that Umno should not use the venue to dwell on its misfortunes.

“This hall is not a place for Umno members to lament their fate.

“Every time we are tested, this is also where we regroup and chart our own future.

“Because we know who we are, we know where we are going, and we also know where our next step should begin,” he said, expressing confidence that the same venue would one day witness Umno’s return to power.

Reporting by Haspaizi Zain, Hariz Mohd, Shakira Buang, N Faizal Ghazali, Zarrah Morden & Khoo Shiyuan

Zahid dares Harapan to kick Umno out of Putrajaya, dissolve Parliament

Tok Mat urges PAS to dissolve one state assembly it controls as 'sincerity test'

Umno AGM | Pahang MB says bigger victory awaits if it works with PN; Khaled praises Chinese for unity

Umno prefers to negotiate with PAS rather than PN - Asyraf