Salleh: A mistake to have left Umno

Former federal minister Datuk Seri Mohd Salleh Tun Said (pic), who is re-applying to join Umno, says his decision to leave Sabah Umno en-bloc on Dec 12,2018 was a mistake.

He is now leaving it to the Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the supreme council and Sabah Umno to decide whether to accept him back into the party fold. His membership application was submitted on May 26.

In posting on his sallehsaid.com blog, Salleh confirmed the statement by Sabah Umno chief Datuk Bung Moktar Radin that he had applied to rejoin Umno.

The 61-year-old former Sabah chief minister under the Barisan Nasional, lost his Kota Belud parliamentary seat to a little known political newcomer Isnaraissah Munirah from Parti Warisan Sabah in the May 2018 general election.

Salleh joined the exodus of Sabah Umno leaders who quit the party on Dec 12,2018 to join the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia that spread its wings to Sabah in April 2019.

However, Salleh and also former Dewan Rakyat speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin were among some of the prominent former Sabah Umno leaders not accepted by Bersatu led then by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Salleh went on to apply to join PKR but his application hit a snag amid objections by the Sabah PKR members led by Datuk Christina Liew, the state Deputy Chief Minister.

On the other hand, Pandikar declined to join PKR but talked about restarting his disbanded Parti Akar but has kept a low profile since then. Both Salleh and Pandikar are from the Kota Belud area.

Bung told The Star on Sunday that they were confident that Salleh’s membership would be accepted as it was Sabah Umno’s intention to allow for all its members who left the party to return to the fold.

The Star