More Umno leaders have come out openly in support of the suggestion that the Umno president and deputy president posts be left uncontested in the party polls election slated for the year-end.
The suggestion thrown up by Umno supreme council member Mohd Puad Zarkashi on Sunday was welcomed by publicity chief Ahmad Maslan, supreme council member Mahdzir Khalid, Penang state chief Zainal Abidin Osman, Johor state publicity chief Samsol Bari Jamali and Terengganu state publicity chief Ahmad Razif Abd Rahman.
According to Utusan Malaysia, Ahmad Maslan, who is also the deputy finance minister, hoped that the current party president Najib Abdul Razak and his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin, will continue to lead Umno and BN to wrest back the parliamentary two-third majority in the next general election.
Mahdzir told Utusan that party members should place priority on party unity and avoid any form of disunity.
Zainal said the leadership of Najib-Muhyiddin has led BN to capture Kedah and retain other state governments in the general election, and stability is vital as it is undergoing transformation.
Magic key to party unity
The Umno-owned daily also quoted several Umno leaders from Kelantan who opined that the no-contest suggestion will allow the party to form a strong team that can command the support of the people.
The others leaders who lent support to the suggestion included Pasir Puteh division chief Zawawi Othman, Pengkalan Chepa division chief Dali Hussin and Rantau Panjang division chief Abdullah Mat Yasim.
Berita Harian reported that both Malacca and Terengganu Umno have swung behind Najib and Muhyiddin.
Malacca state chief Mohd Ali Rustam said the suggestion will strengthen Umno while Terengganu state secretary Tengku Putera Awang, who is also a state exco member, said he is satisfied with the performance of both leaders.
Earlier Negri Sembilan Umno state liaison committee led by Menteri Besar Mohamad Hasan had also backed the proposal not to contest against Najib and Muhyiddin in the coming party polls.
Umno has overhauled its party electoral system, which among other changes has removed the minimum number of nominations a candidate needs to run for the presidency. This effectively opens the door to virtually any Umno member to vie for the post.
Trumpeting party's democratic values
The new electoral system will makes its debut at the coming party election.
A total of 146,500 delegates from 161 divisions nationwide will elect the party leadership in line with amendments to the Umno constitution in 2009.
Only 2,510 delegates were eligible to vote for the national leadership, from president to supreme council members, at the last Umno general assembly in that year.
Najib last Friday implied that he is ready to face any challenge to his position, saying that Umno is a democratic party.
"Well, Umno is a democratic party, so I do not know. We have to accept that Umno is an open party, not like some other parties," Najib told a press conference after chairing an Umno supreme council meeting.
Malaysiakini
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