The 90-year-old further accused the Malay party’s top leaders of ignoring the “voices of the people” as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak moves to stamp his style on Umno and distinguish it from Dr Mahathir’s 22-year-long practice that formally ended in 2003.
“Tonight we gather because our leadership has stopped listening to the voices of the people. The people cannot voice out their grouses. They can only say yes to the leaders.
“There is no democracy as the party now sees only one person with absolute power. The deputy president, vice-president, are not allowed to speak. Only selected members can speak,” the Kedah-born told a packed hall at the Kelab Sultan Sulaiman in Kampung Baru here.
Dr Mahathir who made his speech after Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, was referring to the departure from practice this year for the Umno deputy president to address the party wings in their assembly opening ceremony scheduled for tomorrow.
The former Umno president and retired prime minister has been a fierce critic of Najib’s leadership and administration for the past few months, and has been in the forefront of calling for the Pahang-born’s resignation, a point he repeated tonight.
He claimed Najib to be unfit to be a leader due to the latter’s silence in the face of of mounting questions over the management of state-owned 1Malaysia Development Berhad; and questions surrounding the mysterious identity of the RM2.6 billion donation which the prime minister has acknowledged was transferred directly into his private bank accounts though he has denied using them for personal gain.
Muhyiddin and Sabah-born Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, who were dropped from Najib’s Cabinet in a sudden reshuffle earlier this year, have also openly questioned their leader on the two issues.
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