Zahid’s ‘guru’ jabs: Just banter or a warning to Anwar?

KUALA LUMPUR - Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi spent much of the 2026 Umno General Assembly taking increasingly pointed swipes at Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

What began as a jab over petrol subsidies on Friday evolved into a running exchange over who gets to play the teacher and whether Umno is prepared to take lessons from anyone.

The first shot came in Zahid’s policy speech, when he criticised the government’s handling of the Budi95 petrol subsidy, pointing to the decision to reduce the monthly quota from 300 litres to 200 litres before restoring it to 300 litres from Sept 1.

“Who did this? Guru. Enough, guru. Listen to our voices, guru. We can do better than what the guru has done,” he said.

The reference was unmistakably aimed at Anwar, borrowing a viral catchphrase to make his point.

Zahid insisted he was not trying to create trouble, but wanted to spare Malaysians from what he described as “endless confusion”. He then switched gears, urging Umno’s younger members to “slay” and “flex” their ideas.

By the winding-up speech, the “guru” theme was back, this time with a sharper political edge.

Without naming Anwar, Zahid pointed to the Prime Minister’s ongoing visit to India and reminded delegates that the assembly was being watched beyond the walls of the hall.

“As I said in my policy speech, the assembly isn't only followed by Umno members inside this hall, but also by people outside it. They still want to know what's happening, even those in India right now,” he said.

Zahid was referring to Anwar’s response to the earlier “guru” jibe, in which the Prime Minister appeared to embrace the label while urging Malaysians to “learn from the guru”.

Zahid’s answer was characteristically colourful.

“We want to remind the teacher, if the teacher urinates standing up, we don't urinate running,” he said.

The message was clear enough: Umno may be part of the Unity Government, but it does not see itself as a student obliged to follow every lesson from the Prime Minister.

Zahid then took another swipe at the teacher analogy, saying Umno had its own political identity rather than having to imitate others.

“We really just like Tamil films, that's the Bollywood-style drama from India they want us to follow. We have our own headmaster,” he said.

He capped the exchange by leading delegates in a chant of “we're slaying” and “we're winning”, drawing an enthusiastic response from the hall.

After Zahid's Friday speech, as Anwar arrived in New Delhi for the 18th Brics Leaders' Summit, he posted on Instagram embracing the "guru" tag, referring to his followers as "students" and saying he hoped they would learn how "Madani Diplomacy" was put into practice.

He signed off with "Slayyy" and a nail-polish emoji.

It was a neat counter: Zahid turned the “guru” reference into a political punchline; Anwar turned it into a diplomatic social-media moment.

For two days, the exchange gave social media plenty to chew on, but beneath the jokes is something more consequential.

Zahid was making a point to his own party: Umno may support the Unity Government, but it does not surrender its political voice to it.

The question now is whether the “guru” exchange was simply assembly theatrics or a sign of a more deliberate effort by Zahid to draw clearer political space between Umno and Anwar as GE16 approaches.