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Key Highlights
Zahid wants it all
Umno still in decline
Cops arrest journo over question
Zahid wants it all
Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is seeking to balance both his loyalty to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, and calls for his party to get back together with PAS.
At the Umno AGM, Zahid unveiled plans for a “grand collaboration” to unite all Malay and Islamic based parties in the country for “informal cooperation” as a start. The collaboration comes with one caveat, Anwar will remain in power and the Madani government untouched.
Zahid claimed that talks with PAS and Bersatu had already been initiated. However, Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin said his party has not given any mandate to discuss cooperation with Umno.
Meanwhile, Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan said that Umno must remain in government to keep DAP in check and prevent a repeat of the first Pakatan Harapan government.
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Umno still in decline
In the first speech to kick off the Umno general assembly on Wednesday, deputy prime minister Mohamad Hasan warned that the party was facing a major decline in support.
On Friday, Umno secretary-general Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki put that decline in numbers.
Umno has over 622,000 registered members in Sabah. But during the state election two months ago, only the party received only around 144,000 votes.
This means that almost 80 percent of the registered Umno voters in the state did not vote for the party. It’s a trend that Asyraf said could be observed in other states too.
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Cops arrest journo over question
Former FMT journalist Rex Tan was detained by police overnight on Saturday.
His offence? Asking a question that was said to carry racial overtones during a public lecture in Kuala Lumpur featuring UK politician George Galloway, titled “Gaza Exposes the Complicity of International Actors”.
Tan is being investigated for sedition, a move that critics - including those who bashed him over the question - said was an overreaction by authorities.
Likewise, Galloway himself expressed disagreement with the journalist’s arrest.
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