Najib: Termination letters to be sent Monday

The BN chairman says termination letters will be sent on Monday to those who decided to contest as Independents.

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PEKAN: Barisan Nasional chairman Najib Tun Razak has announced that termination letters will be sent out on Monday to party members standing as Independents in the 2013 general election.

Speaking at his house here after nominations, the caretaker prime minister stressed that discipline was vital in a party and that it was not his fault “one or two party members” would be sacked.

“The party’s discipline is important; personal ambitions cannot override the party’s needs,” he told some 3,000 supporters here.

“Without discipline, a party is destroyed. So we have made a ruling that whoever stands as an Independent cannot remain a member.

“The party will take action this Monday and send letters to sack whoever is contesting in the election as an Independent,” he said.

BN members likely to be sacked on Monday are Umno Wanita deputy chief Kamilia Ibrahim and Ong Tee Keat’s personal aide, Allan Tan Yew Leng. Kamilia, however, has announced her resignation.

Ong himself narrowly missed the chopping block when he decided only today not to contest for the Pandan seat, where he is the incumbent MP.

Instead, the former MCA president told some 200 supporters that Tan, 35, would stand as an independant candidate to face MCA’s Gary Lim and PKR’s Rafizi Ramli.

Leaders close to Ong told FMT that he would now be concentrating on party polls, working hard to regain his position as the party president, a post which he lost to the present chief, Dr Chua Soi Lek.

Pre-empting backlash

Meanwhile, Kamilia today announced on Facebook that she is no longer an Umno member and had relinquished all her party posts, in what is seen as a move to pre-empt the party’s backlash towards her.

She is standing as an Independent for the Kuala Kangsar parliamentary seat and would be in a three-cornered fight with PAS’ Khalil Idham Lim and BN’s Mohammad Khairil Anuar Wan Ahmad.

Kamilia had previously expressed bitter disappointment to the media after BN offered her a state seat of Bukit Chandan instead of the parliamentary seat of her choice.

She told Sinar Harian that she had expected to be fielded in Kuala Kangsar as she was the second in command in Wanita Umno, the party’s women’s wing.

“It is not our fault [that these members are being sacked], because we have to take care of the party’s discipline,” Najib explained today.

“If we must make sacrifices, it is best we sacrifice one or two individuals, rather than the party as a whole,” he pointed out.

Najib had for months pleaded to his party not to resort to sabotage should they learn they had not been chosen as candidates for the May 5 election.

Prior to revealing the list, he had quipped that disappointed hopefuls might sulk for 24 hours before they were ordered to campaign for the chosen candidates.

Sabotage was a key reason for BN’s historic loss of its two-thirds majority in the 2008 election.

The narrow victory won by BN led to the then prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s resignation the following year.

Najib is likely to face a similar end should he fail to regain the two-thirds majority for BN.