Najib was forced to resign as Umno president, says Nur Jazlan
Minderjeet Kaur | May 23, 2018
The former deputy home minister claims Umno members had wanted Najib Razak to resign even before GE14, but Najib did not listen to them.
Former deputy home minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed says Umno members had wanted Najib Razak to resign ‘so that the party does not split’.
PETALING JAYA: Former deputy home minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed claims Najib Razak refused to resign as Umno president following the party’s dismal outing in the May 9 polls until he was forced to do so.
“Even after we lost the election, he refused to immediately resign as the party president until he was forced to do so on May 12,” he told FMT.
Nur Jazlan, who lost the Pulai seat to Amanah deputy president Salahuddin Ayub, said Umno members wanted Najib to resign voluntarily, as the previous prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had done.
This was to ensure that the party “does not split”, he added.
Abdullah had said in 2008 that he would step down in March 2009 and pave the way for his chosen successor to take control of the governing party which appeared to be losing its grip after five decades in power.
When asked if there were calls for Najib to resign even before the May 9 polls, Nur Jazlan said: “How do you know we did not? But he did not want to listen.”
When asked on the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission calling Najib in for questioning on how RM42 million from former 1MDB entity SRC International had entered his bank account, Nur Jazlan said: “They’re just doing their job.” He did not elaborate further.
SRC was created in 2011 by the government to pursue overseas investments in energy resources. It was a unit of 1MDB until it was moved to the finance ministry in 2012.
Nur Jazlan recently told theSun daily that Najib should have foreseen the collapse of Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN).
He linked BN’s shocking defeat at the polls to Najib’s failure to address allegations of corruption against him and issues related to 1MDB.
He also said Najib would have known from the comments made on social media platforms about the issues surrounding him and his family.
Nur Jazlan was responding to Najib’s remark that BN leaders should have spoken up earlier if they thought there was a problem with his leadership.
This came after Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin suggested that Umno had become so detached from reality that it thought it was invincible.
Nur Jazlan said Najib must be answerable to all the allegations made against him and his family during his tenure as prime minister as this would restore the party’s credibility.
