Najib an extraordinary leader: Zahid

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak – despite his status – is a people centric leader with extraordinary humility, according to Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Stating this, the deputy prime minister said his decades of loyalty towards Najib, who is also the Umno president, was due to his confidence for the latter in driving the party forward.
Describing Najib as the "most relevant Umno leader", Zahid added he was fated by God to assist Najib since 1987 in various ways.
"Why do I have confidence on him? Despite him being the son of the second prime minister, his humbleness and people centric attitude is extraordinary.
"I have continued to support him as my confidence towards him is very high," he said in his speech at the opening of Persidangan Kepimpinan Mahasiswa Nasional 2017 (Pemanas 5.0) at the Putra World Trade Centre today.
In praising Najib, Zahid added that the party posesses a leader who has an exceptional durability in facing lies and accusations thrown by opponents of Umno.
"Despite him being attacked on various issues, splashed with lies and rained upon various bullets of hatred, his resilience is remarkable. This type of leader need to be supported," Zahid, who is also the Umno vice-president, added.
"This is not only a question of loyalty. We do not want blind loyalty, but this is based on our confidence to inidividuals like Najib," he said.
Speaking in front of hundreds of university students in support of Umno, Zahid said the group had made the right choice to become a members of the party.
"It will be a big loss if many of our youths put aside Umno as the party is the last bastion for the muslims and Malays in this country," he said.
"Your role and responsibility is to bring out the facts on the beauty of Umno as a political and social institution for the Malays, without sidelining the other races," Zahid said.
Zahid pointed out that there were people out there trying to taint the image of Umno based on lies and hatred.
"Is Umno is that ugly? Is Umno is that dirty? Such hatred was not only injected but thrown to the public with negative perception.
"Umno has been judged by the court of public opinion," Zahid lamented.