Umno shakeup: Inept trio Zahid, Hisham, Shafie removed

Written by Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle

A much-anticipated shakeup is finally taking place in Umno after divisional warlords threatened to mutiny if ineffective and interfering central leaders were not removed “asap” or in political speak – immediately.

Guillotined were the three vice-presidents Hishammuddin Hussein, Shafie Apdal and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who are also senior Cabinet ministers.

“They can’t even function well as ministers, let alone spark a recovery in the state Umno divisions. Hisham and Zahid are forever putting their feet in their mouths and we seldom hear anything useful coming from Shafie at all,” an Umno watcher told Malaysia Chronicle.

On Monday, Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan announced that Hisham would be replaced by Terengganu mentri besar Ahmad Said as the state party chief. Shafie will hand over the Kedah chief post to Ahmad Bashah Hanipah, while Zahid will relinquish the Penang chair to Zainal Abidin Osman.

Ahmad Bashah was formerly the deputy Kedah state liaison chief, while Zainal Abidin Osman is the Nibong Tebal division chief and deputy liaison chairman.

Inept trio

Meanwhile, Tengku Adnan (right) insisted the move was to free all three ministers from excessive party duties so that they could focus on their work in the Cabinet, and not because of the numerous complaints against them for incompetence and mishandling of state affairs.

However, the Umno sec-gen said Prime Minister Najib Razak and his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin would remain as Selangor chief and Federal Territory chief respectively.

"The Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister will remain as the Selangor state liaison chief and Federal Territory chief respectively. This is to ensure that the Barisan Nasional will regain Selangor and the Federal Territory from the opposition in the next general election," said Adnan.

Other changes include former Perlis mentri besar Shahidan Kassim, who replaced Zahidi Zainol Abidin as the state's deputy liaison chief.

Deputy international trade minister Mukhriz Mahathir was appointed the deputy chief for Kedah.