‘My lips have been sealed,’ heartbroken Muhyiddin says

Umno deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin is heartbroken after the party’s supreme council rejected his plea to speak at this year's Umno annual general assembly.

“I can’t speak, my lips have been sealed. I don’t know what’s happening to Umno.

“I am sad (but) I will sit in during the assembly until it is over because I am deputy president. That is my right.

“However I am disappointed. I pleaded, together with Umno vice-president Shafie Apdal, to be given a chance to speak, but they said no,” Muhyiddin told reporters outside Menara Umno tonight.

He was met after attending the Umno supreme council meeting.

Muhyiddin said there were interferences when he was making his case, but did not elaborate.

He added that he did not agree with the decision, as it breaks party tradition.

This is the first time an Umno deputy president is not allowed to speak at the annual general assembly.

Muhyiddin previously said this move to bar him from speaking had made him a “stump” in the party.

Besides not being allowed to speak at the AGM, the Umno number two has also been sidelined in other party matters such as chairing Umno’s war room meeting.

Despite the gag, Muhyiddin did address his supporters on Monday, during which he continued to slam Najib.

Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said the speech had gone too far and warned that Muhyiddin may lose his position because of it. -Mkini