PH-Umno unity in Perak a ‘game changer’, says man in new ‘Zahid audio’

A second part of an audio recording has surfaced just a day after another clip featuring what is thought to be Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi making his case for the party to join hands with Pakatan Harapan (PH) in the next polls.

In this latest audio, a voice identical to that of Zahid makes reference to the confidence vote in the Perak state assembly last December, where Bersatu’s Ahmad Faizal Azumu was removed as menteri besar through the combined vote of Umno and PH assemblymen.

“Let Perak start the game changer, a huge transformation. Let Perak create a new political order. This is the way forward for the nation’s politics,” the voice, purportedly of Zahid, is heard saying.

The clip was released on social media as well as on popular mobile messenger platform WhatsApp, believed to be a continuation of another clip that was making the rounds yesterday.

It also comes in the wake of growing calls by some leaders in PH to form an allince with Umno, following the party’s decision to cut ties with Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s Bersatu.

MalaysiaNow learnt from sources in Umno that the recordings are of a discussion during a meeting of the Umno Supreme Council in Janda Baik, Pahang, last month.

While the claim could not be verified as of press time, an aide to Zahid did not deny the authenticity of the first clip released yesterday.

On Dec 4, Faizal lost a confidence vote tabled by Umno amid the party’s rising tension with Bersatu. The motion received support from PH assemblymen, but not from PAS and Bersatu.

This was followed by Umno’s Saarani Mohamad, who replaced Faizal as menteri besar, announcing equal constituency allocations to elected representatives, a move seen as Umno’s gratitude to PH for its support.

In the latest clip, the man said he had advised Saarani to come up with a confidence-and-supply agreement, so that PH assemblymen would not reject the state budget.

“What’s the objective? It is to show that we (Umno and PH) are better than the previous one,” he said, as the clip ended.

A source meanwhile told MalaysiaNow that several Umno leaders who are against Zahid are bent on releasing the full recording in stages.

In the first clip, the same voice suggested that Umno should not be worried about allying with DAP.

It said DAP had assured that it would abide by constitutional provisions favouring the Malays, a key point of contention between Umno and DAP over the decades.

“I told Nga Kor Ming, you must abide by these four items in the constitution. One, Islam as the religion of the federation, the status of Malay rulers, the special privileges of the Malays, and Malay as the national language. He made a media statement,” the man said in the audio, referring to his meeting with the DAP deputy secretary-general.