THE THIRD FORCE
SUBANG JAYA: Below is a footage showcasing a seemingly optimistic Dato’ Seri Nazri Aziz expressing how he always supported Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim and how he will continue to do so.
Now, it doesn’t bother me one bit if Nazri meant what he said or is proud of the fact that he openly supported Anwar during the latter’s Port Dickson quest.
What bothers me most is the lack of action by UMNO’s supreme council, which, if you don’t already know, undertook to penalise many a party leader in the past for championing the cause of party opponents.
A case in example is what happened to former UMNO deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
In 2016, Muhyiddin was sacked from UMNO for a number of reasons, primary among them being his decision to share a stage with (then) opposition leaders when criticising Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak.
The party’s supreme council referred to the act as a serious breach of party discipline and showed no mercy to Muhyiddin.
It follows, that UMNO is dead against any of its leaders consorting with members of opponent parties if the act serves to the detriment of UMNO, or conversely, the benefit of those parties.
Only a fool wouldn’t be able to see how Nazri’s act of supporting Anwar during the Port Dickson by-election stood to benefit PKR.
Despite this, the supreme council has yet to convene to discuss the matter, let alone criticise Nazri or sack him from UMNO.
Perhaps it has to do with the council’s more-than-close associations with Dato’ Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the party’s current president.
Not many are aware, that Zahid conned the council into thinking that some 70 or so Members of Parliament (MPs) from PKR, PAS, Warisan, Sabah and Sarawak agreed to forge a unity alliance with UMNO.
The council actually believes this to be true and is convinced that Zahid has the capacity to steer UMNO towards leading the next Government of Malaysia.
Many of its members fear that any action against Nazri would stand to “offend Anwar” and jeopardise Zahid’s “unity plan.”
Perhaps that explains why the council has suddenly adopted “a policy of extreme tolerance” and refuses to call Nazri in for questioning.
