"I'm prepared to be fired if voicing out for the party is considered a sabotage", says Noh Omar
Noh Omar
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"I am prepared to be called by the party's disciplinary board, and I would rather be fired if my principles of voicing out for the sake of the party is considered sabotage," he said.
Along with him, four other Umno leaders in the Tanjung Karang division, including his son, have been given notices to meet the Umno management committee on Jan 30, he said.
Noh said the members were Tanjung Karang Umno Division Secretary Jasman Anuar, Umno Puteri Division Chief Salbiah Saari, Umno Divisional Committee Member Yusop Omar, and Umno Divisional Puteri Committee Member Nurul Syazwani.
Datuk Mohd Hafrizam Harun through a WhatsApp message also confirmed that he had received the notice last week.
He confirmed that the notices informed the four Tanjung Karang division leaders that they were involved with several claims of betraying the party in the 15th General Election (GE15) in Nov last year.
"I will attend to explain each accusation brought against me because I'm still an Umno MKT member.
"I am prepared to accept any decisions made by the party. If they want to fire me, go ahead; I don’t care. If Umno leaders want to find fault on others for their loss in GE15, it is up to them," he told Sinar Premium on Thursday.
Noh was responding to speculation that his name was listed by the Umno disciplinary board for a meeting on Jan 30.
In a meeting last Wed, the committee said the discussion was about the membership status of Umno Youth Chief Khairy Jamaluddin in the party.
Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan confirmed the matter when asked by reporters on Wed.
Previously, when the 2022 Umno General Assembly (PAU) approved the additional motion that the party's president and deputy president positions were not to be contested,
Noh questioned the party’s decision, accusing him of betraying the Tanjung Karang parliament in GE15, even though Umno suffered a major loss and failed to win a majority in seven states, including Selangor.
"Did the betrayal occur only at the Tanjung Karang Parliamentary seat in the last election?
"If Tanjung Karang was the only one, what about those who lost in Selangor? Can we claim that they betrayed the party too? There were many losses. Even the state of Melaka couldn’t win a single seat in the state election when two years ago had won majority in the state. It's illogical to blame others.
"The Bagan Datuk parliamentary seat itself won by only 340 votes, was there an internal sabotage? If Umno wants to move forward, don’t look for excuses. We must turn a new leaf through self-reflection and forget about the past," he added.
The former Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister said the major loss suffered by Umno in GE15 was because of people’s rejection, but perhaps there are several other factors, including unpopular candidates.
"We can’t simply say there was an internal sabotage when we lose. The people may reject the party due to several factors.
"For example, Tanjung Karang Parliament was an Umno stronghold; perhaps the loss was due to the choice of candidate not being favourably received by the people," he said.
Noh admitted he was among the four MKT members who did not support the motion for the two top posts in Umno not to be contested in the 2022 PAU two weeks ago.
He stated the decision was not based on anyone’s influence but was made on the basis of defending the principle of prioritising the interests of the party, religion, and nation, as well as not being afraid to speak up for the truth.
Noh said any party should not accuse him of betraying them because he refused to support the additional motion approved in the 2022 PAU.
He said he had always obeyed the decisions of the previous PAU and MKT prior to GE15, including the decision to withdraw the support of Umno MPs from the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government led by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in 2021.
"My principles were always to follow the orders of the party, and I held on to the Umno constitution and the highest body decision because I have no personal interests.
"When the party decided ‘No Anwar, No Dap’, I stuck to it. When I was ordered to sign the sworn declaration (SD) to support Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (as the prime minister before GE15), I obeyed.
"When the party decided to withdraw its support from the PN government led by Muhyiddin, I was one of the 15 MPs who signed the SD withdrawing its support.
"It was proof I am a party man. When I did not support the 2022 PAU motion and rejected the suggestion that the top two positions should not be contested, I was immediately branded as a traitor," he questioned.
Noh said that in terms of rules, he personally saw that the motion was not brought according to the rules.
"When we do something, it should follow the rules so that outsiders can see that we don’t do as we please."
"During the MKT meeting only seven motions were discussed, it did not include the motion of the top positions being contested," he said.
Noh said the motion was seen as confusing because an additional motion must be approved through the MKT meeting before it is brought to the PAU for approval.
