Najib, in his speech at the opening of the Umno general assembly yesterday, said he backed Dr Mahathir as he was loyal to the then party president.
The Star reported that Najib recounted this to illustrate how Dr Mahathir has now turned his back on Umno supporters who had stood by him, to form Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Pribumi), with the intention of bringing down the current administration.
“At the time, Tengku Razaleigh was disheartened (berkecil hati) with the decision my team and I made to side with Dr Mahathir,” said Najib who was the Umno Youth chief then.
Tengku Razaleigh and his “Team B” had challenged Dr Mahathir’s “Team A” for the Umno presidency which the latter won.
Najib who was the Umno youth chief then, said despite that episode, both he and Tengku Razaleigh, populary known as Ku Li, bore no hard feelings towards each other.
Speaking to reporters later, Ku Li brushed off suggestions that he harboured ill-will against Najib in the aftermath of the 1987 party election.
“He mentioned that I was disheartened (berkecil hati). But I do not feel that way. This is a democracy,” Ku Li was quoted as saying by the Star.
“It is just that I felt he made a wrong choice (to support Dr Mahathir in 1987),” the Gua Musang MP said with a laugh.