All eyes on Umno supreme council meeting tonight

SHAH ALAM - All eyes will be on the Umno supreme council meeting tonight for the decision to expel several leaders over their act of sabotaging and criticising the party’s leadership.

In a statement yesterday, its president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said Umno will carry out a large scale ‘cleansing’ in the meeting, at the same time hinting that there would be some who would be sacked from the party.

The fate of former Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin who has been seen criticising the party’s leadership will be known tonight for breach of discipline of the party.

Khairy had also urged for the president and deputy president posts in Umno to be contested in its polls to ensure democratic practices continued in the party.

The former Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate who lost in the 15th General Election (GE15) at the Sungai Buloh Parliament said he wanted to clean up Umno if he had won the seat.

In the 2022 Umno General Assembly (2022 PAU), Khairy claimed that there were “imported delegates” used during the voting process on the motion of no contest for the two top posts.

However, the matter was denied by the party’s leadership.

The fate of former Selangor Umno Liaison Committee chairman Tan Sri Noh Omar and several Tanjong Karang Umno leaders would be known tonight as they were alleged to have been involved in sabotaging the party in GE15.

Noh had criticised the party in the 2022 PAU after the Overseas Umno Club leaders were said to have been prevented from debating as there was a tendency that they would criticise the party’s president and not agreeing to the motion of no contest for the top two posts.

Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan confirmed that the supreme council meeting will also decide on the party election date including on the top two positions.

He said it involved the party election at the branch and division levels which were expected to be held simultaneously for 191 divisions nationwide including the election of its top leadership.

Previously, the top two posts were decided through a motion in the 2022 PAU that it will not be contested.