After sacking, Shahidan takes aim at Zahid, calls for action over letter and audio

Sacked Perlis Umno chief Shahidan Kassim has called for disciplinary action against those who went against the party’s decision not to cooperate with PKR president Anwar Ibrahim, hours after he was removed from his post today.

“We know about a letter written by the president jointly with Najib Razak to the Agong,” he told reporters today, believed to be a reference to the joint letter by Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Najib to the palace to express support for Anwar’s bid to topple the Perikatan Nasional government.

“This is a violation of the party’s policy of not cooperating with Anwar,” he added.

He said similar action should be taken if the recent audio recording of a telephone conversation between Zahid and Anwar proves to be genuine.

Shahidan meanwhile hinted that he could reveal more details of what he knows about those in Umno who are cooperating with Anwar, but said he would decide on whether to do so after Ramadan.

He said he could not understand the Umno general assembly’s decision to cut ties with Bersatu and Perikatan Nasional (PN), when the Umno Supreme Council said it would only cut ties once Parliament is dissolved to make way for the general election.

As such, he said he had not violated any party decision in protesting the call for Umno to cut ties with Bersatu and PN.

“If I had gone against the party decision, then disciplinary action should be taken against me. But there is no general election yet, so I cannot face disciplinary action.”

He said as the PN backbenchers’ chief, it was his duty to ensure the ruling MPs stay together.

Shahidan however added that he had no problem accepting the decision by Zahid to remove him from the post.

He said it was the prerogative of the party president to choose state liason chiefs.

“Politically, it is my deputy who should be considered for the post. But since the president has decided, we will abide although there is nothing official other than what we heard through the media,” he said.

He also said he suspected there had been a planned attempt to disrupt his speech at the Umno general assembly last month when he was booed by some of the delegates.

The Umno Supreme Council is expected to meet tomorrow.

But Shahidan said he would give it a miss in keeping with the decision today.

Shahidan was among Umno leaders who had criticised the party’s central leadership for its decision to cut ties with Bersatu, the party led by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

In an interview in March on MalaysiaNow’s current affairs programme Talk, Now, he said he would not be perturbed if action was taken against the state chapter should it break ranks with top leaders over the matter.

“Once Perlis Umno decides, if they want to expel us, let it be,” he had said.

Shahidan was also booed by delegates at the Umno general assembly on March 27 during his speech which was seen as out of sync with the views of the Supreme Council.