TUN DR. MAHATHIR QUITS UMNO

Former UMNO President, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad today announced that he was quitting the party with immediate effect and urged other members to emulate him. He told the audience after giving a talk at a forum entitled Malays’ future after the 12th general election at the Star City Hotel in Alor Star.

He exlpained that he will only rejoin the party after the current leadership particularly the present UMNO President, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi steps down from his post. However, he advised those who do quit not to join any opposition party, but still in a position with him to pressure the leadership.

To me, this is the best way to show his dissatisfaction to the leadership. However,there are some question that he has to answer first before blaming others. How about his leadership? Has he done very well to develop the country and againt the corruption? How about his action to Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim on September 1998? How about the royal commission of inquiry into the VK Lingam tape? Who is the Prime Minister on that time?

Meanwhile, according to the political analys , his action to quit the party is showing that the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, which Umno is the largest component party, will be changed as soon as possible.

However, we have to wait first in order to know how true the speculation is.

This is the following of his political cereer

1946: Joined United Malays National Organisation (Umno).

1947: While a medical student, he wrote extensive anti-colonial commentaries in Malay newspapers under the pen-name "Che Det".

1957: Resigned from government service as a doctor. Starts private practice.

1964: Entered active politics as Kota Star Selatan MP.

1965-1969: Member, Umno Supreme Council.

Sept 1969: Expelled from Umno for disciplinary reasons. Re-admitted on March 7, 1972.

June 1972: Elected a member of the Umno Supreme Council with the highest number of votes. Lost in the election for an Umno Vice-President post.

Dec 1972: Appointed a Senator by the Kedah State Legislative Assembly.

1974-2004: MP for Kubang Pasu, Kedah.

Sept 1974: Education Minister.

June 1975: Umno Vice-President.

March 1976: Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Education.

1977: Acting Chairman, Umno Liaison Committee, Malacca.

Jan 1978: Deputy Prime Minister & Trade and Industry Minister.

May 1978: Chairman, Perak Umno Liaison Committee.

Sept 1978: Umno Deputy President.

June 1981: Barisan Nasional Chairman.

June 1981: Umno President.

July 16 1981: Fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia, Minister of Defence (until 1986) and Minister of Home Affairs (until 1999).

July 17 1987: Umno Political Bureau Chairman.

Feb 16 1988: Pro-tem President of Umno Baru. Umno was declared an illegal society on Feb 4, 1988.

Dec 1993: Kelantan Umno Chairman. Chairman, Politics and Constitution Committees of the Supreme Council.

Sept 1998-Jan 1999: Finance Minister. June 2001 - Finance Minister.

June 22 2002: Announced his intention to resign from all political and government posts at the final day of the 56th Umno assembly. Appeals from Umno Supreme Council members.

Oct 31 2003: Retired as PM and Umno president after 22 years.

Sept 2006: Fails in bid to be an Umno delegate for the Umno general assembly coming in ninth out of 15 contestants in the Kubang Pasu division.

May 19 2008: Quits Umno