Umno rep to check for sabotage in divisions- Najib

KUALA LUMPUR-The Umno supreme council will select a delegate from each division as a representative of the Umno disciplinary committee at the division level, said party president Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

He said the representative, to be chosen from the division’s seven delegates to the recent Umno general assembly, would be someone who did not hold a post in the division.

Speaking after chairing the council meeting, here, yesterday, Najib, who is also prime minister, said the representative would monitor the situation at the division level to identify and report any sabotage among members.

“The representatives will report directly to the Umno disciplinary committee, headed by Tan Sri Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen Ismail, which will start its duties soon.

“With the names (of the representatives) that we will announce to the divisions, everyone will know that someone is there to monitor possible sabotage in the divisions.”

Najib said yesterday's meeting had focused on the preparedness of the party for the general election.

He added that based on the audit reports received from voting district centres, the council was satisfied with the preparations but would increase the party's preparedness at all levels.

Asked to comment on Pakatan Rakyat leaders' threats to cause riots if the general election did not favour them, which they claimed could have arisen from the wrongdoings of the Election Commission, Najib said: "We want the elections to be done correctly and we are confident that the EC is efficient and will ensure that the elections are held in a fair manner.

"We hope the opposition will accept the election results and not cause disruptions or riots. It is the basis of democracy to accept the decision of the people."

Najib said if the opposition parties believed in democracy, they would not reject the people's wishes, adding that if they wanted to cause disturbances, the country had laws to handle the situation.

To another question, Najib said he could not understand why Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng had considered the remarks made by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, criticising the DAP secretary-general over his comments on the Penang BN Chinese New Year celebration, as "racist".

"It is weird that he had described the statement as racist. Lim himself had politicised the event, which is a celebration for everyone.

"When we organise a function such as this, we are doing something meaningful for the Chinese. Why should Pakatan want to disrupt this? "If they (Pakatan) want to do something for Chinese New Year on their own, they are free to do so. Why should they disrupt our celebration with their antics, including pulling down posters of me?"

It was reported that Muhyiddin had criticised Lim after the latter had urged the people to wear specific colours when attending the event.

Muhyiddin had described Lim's statement as "kerja bodoh" (silly) and that he (Lim) was not smart.

Lim had construed this as being a racist as he had alleged that Muhyiddin made the statement because the Penang chief minister was Chinese.

On the criticism by opposition parties on South Korean singer PSY's performance at the BN Chinese New Year celebration on Monday, Najib said the opposition was envious as they would have liked to have invited PSY themselves, considering they had copied his Gangnam Style song for their Ubah Roket Style campaign song.

"They probably had planned a similar celebration with PSY but since BN had invited him, they must be disappointed."

- New Straits Times