'Mastermind of cooperation with DAP, PH worse than a secret leaker' - Bachok UMNO chief

KUALA LUMPUR: The attitude of UMNO leaders who negotiated with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is deemed worse than the individuals who are said to have leaked information of the party's Supreme Council (MT) meeting in Janda Baik recently.

Bachok UMNO division chief, Datuk Mohd Zain Yasim, said Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi should have exposed the mastermind who held the talks because it clearly violated the party's principle of 'No Anwar, No DAP'.

He claimed that the UMNO president's action in revealing that the party had identified the two MT members involved in leaking information on the meeting, was a move to mislead party members after the issue that he (Zahid) was said to have signed a letter of agreement with Anwar and DAP recently.

“In terms of regularity, maybe MT knows (who the mastermind is). But the fact of the matter is this confusion is hard to curb.

"If you ask us new leaders, we do not want it (UMNO cooperation with Anwar and DAP). It is not easy to convince our grassroots community to be with Anwar and DAP. We as the Malays are allergic to them.

"After all, if GE15 (15th General Election) in the near future we cannot do anything anymore, it will damage (UMNO) even more if we are linked to DAP," he said when contacted on Friday.

Ahmad Zahid was previously reported to have said that UMNO had identified two MT members who were alleged to have often leaked information on party meetings.

He, who revealed the matter, was also reportedly angry with the actions of the two MT members and promised to take stern action including sacking them.

Meanwhile, Mohd Zain did not deny the possibility that those involved were people who had interests for their own benefit without putting the party's priorities.

"It should be (the president who revealed this), but I don't think he will do that for fear that other things will open up.

"I expressed this view based on experience and goals for the benefit of Muslim Malays," he said.

UMNO Deputy President Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan recently claimed that he was unaware of the existence of discussions between the party and PKR to form a new cooperation network in GE15.

In fact, he said, he was not informed of any meeting to discuss the issue.