Sanusi Junid says working with opposition is to save Umno

An Umno veteran has defended banding together with opposition leaders against party president Datuk Seri Najib Razak, saying he is doing it because he does not want to see Umno and the Barisan Nasional (BN) lose in the next general election. Tan Sri Sanusi Junid said he signed the March 4 Citizen's Declaration demanding that Najib resign because he loved Umno and did not want to see it voted out of power. "If the prime minister can only be removed through election it means that BN must lose before the prime minister can resign. We do not want that. We do not want BN to lose. "We feel that BN and Umno will lose if the prime minister does not resign. That is why we want him to resign, because we love Umno," Sanusi said in a video recording uploaded on the blog http://ift.tt/1QExJpA. "A love for Umno will drive one to make Umno respected. That is the meaning of loving Umno," Sanusi said in the video. The video is a recording of the blog author's interview with Sanusi, a former Umno Supreme Council member and Kedah menteri besar. Sanusi was among a handful of Umno leaders who signed the Citizen's Declaration together with former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on March 4. Others included Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir. Umno has gone on a media blitz to discredit leaders and members who signed the declaration and accused them of working with the opposition to topple the BN ruling coalition. Pro-Umno groups have zeroed in the presence of DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang at the signing to whip up support against Sanusi and other Umno members. In the recording, Sanusi also defended Lim who he claimed had never made Malaysians suffer. Lim had also never rack up huge national debts, a veiled reference to the RM42 billion owed by 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) which is Najib's brainchild. "I am perplexed as to how a big Malay party can be afraid of one Chinese man. This Chinese man has been in the opposition for decades. He has never been in government. "He has never brought hardship to Malaysians. He has never proposed the GST (goods and services tax) and he has never tabled a motion in Parliament to not pay our debts." In contrast, Sanusi said his critics were silent on the preferential treatment accorded to businessman Low Teck Jho who has been implicated in the 1MDB scandal. "(That guy) is good person. If he testifies at the Public Accounts Committee, his testimony is secret. Cannot tell anyone because it is feared it will look bad on him." – March 11, 2016.]]>