Umno chief Zahid faces calls to step down

Senior members, BN component parties seek his resignation following dismal results

- Ram Anand

Umno president Zahid Hamidi has started facing calls to step down as party president, and also as chair of the Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN), in the immediate aftermath of his party's resounding defeat at Malaysia's general election on Saturday.

Johor Menteri Besar and party supreme council member Onn Hafiz Ghazi said on Sunday that Zahid should "graciously" step aside, emulating his predecessor Najib Razak, who stepped down as Umno president after BN suffered its first-ever electoral defeat at the 2018 election.

Datuk Onn said in a statement that Umno had fallen to a "Malay political tsunami" and that the party has been roundly rejected by the Malay electorate.

"If we don't change now, we would not win even a single seat in the future," Mr Onn said on his Facebook page. He said removing Zahid would be the "first step" towards rejuvenating the party.

Umno information chief Shahril Hamdan and the party's Selangor chief Noh Omar both resigned on Sunday and immediately called for Zahid to do the same.