UMNO president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has hit back at calls for the party to leave the unity government, following his strongly worded policy speech at the 2026 UMNO General Assembly (PAU) on Friday.
Without directly naming those he was addressing, Ahmad Zahid, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, said the current Prime Minister’s position would not have been possible without UMNO’s support.
“Those keyboard warriors are asking us to leave the government. If you dare, go ahead. Remember this, keyboard warriors.
“The unity government exists because of UMNO. The Prime Minister is Prime Minister because of UMNO’s support,” he said while delivering his winding-up speech at PAU 2026 at the World Trade Centre (WTC) here on Saturday.
Responding to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s social media post referring to the term “guru” (teacher), Ahmad Zahid said UMNO would not simply follow every action taken by its political counterparts.
“We want to remind the teacher, if the teacher urinates standing up, we will not urinate running,” he said.
Ahmad Zahid also recited a Malay pantun with an implied message: “Berburu ke padang datar, dapat rusa si belang kaki; berguru kepalang ajar, bagaikan bunga kembang tak jadi.”
The Bagan Datuk MP also took a swipe at those outside UMNO who closely follow the party’s annual assembly despite not being supporters of the party.
“Our assembly is being followed not only by UMNO members inside and outside the hall, but outsiders are also interested,” he said.
“That is why I said, no matter how much they dislike UMNO, they still want to know what is happening at the UMNO General Assembly. Even those currently in India,” he added.
