FORMER UMNO Supreme Council member Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin has insisted that he was no threat to Pakatan Harapan and its component parties as he is just a “small fry” who has never held a top position on a national level.

The former deputy communications and multimedia minister said his situation was unlike that of the recently-sacked UMNO member Khairy Jamaluddin who might pose a threat to PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli’s future political ambitions.

“I am just a small fry and have never held a top position on a national level. However, former UMNO Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin has the potential to become prime minister, and if he joins PKR perhaps even Rafizi would see this as a challenge,” Zahidi was quoted as saying by Sinar Harian during the “Kenapa Pilih PH” talk show.

The senior leadership of UMNO on Jan 28 had decided to fire Khairy and a number of fierce critics, ostensibly for party-related offences during Malaysia’s 15th General Election (GE15) in 2022.

Zahidi, on the other hand, was given the boot by UMNO in November last year following his decision to contest for the Padang Besar parliamentary seat as an independent candidate during GE15.

Earlier this week, it was reported that Zahidi is set to join PKR and claimed that “many others” from his former party will follow in his footsteps.

He also mentioned that he will be submitting his PKR membership form on Saturday (Feb 4) and alleged that he will be accompanied by some 100 supporters who are currently Padang Besar UMNO division members.

This number seemed to have significantly increased over the next few days as Zahidi noted during the talk show that 2,000 UMNO members across several divisions would join him in his search for a new party.

“I told them that I do not want to hold any position. We will just support the existing leaders, so if we don’t contest [in elections] that is not a problem as we have served for 25 years as leaders,” he said in the talk show.

“If you need my services and my experiences, I will continue to contribute.” - Feb 3, 2023 

https://focusmalaysia.my/just-a-small-fry-former-umno-leader-says-he-is-not-a-threat-to-ph/