Muhyiddin suspended for not performing duties, says Annuar

Muhyiddin Yassin was suspended as Umno deputy president because he did not perform his duties according to the party constitution, said the party's information chief Annuar Musa.

According to a provision in the party constitution, the duties of the deputy president is to help the president, said Annuar, and the party cannot function smoothly if someone does not perform their duties.

Muhyiddin, he explained, did not perform his duties of helping the president as laid out in the constitution.

"For us, this is a decision we were forced to make, because as a party, we have to have discipline, collective responsibility and also we need to obey the constitution," he told reporters after the Umno supreme council meeting at the Putra World Trade Center in Kuala Lumpur today, where the decision was reached.

He further elaborated that while the decision was not easy, it was done in accordance to the constitution and in view of the coming elections.

Suspending Muhyiddin would also let the party focus on doing their duty to the rakyat as they work towards the next general elections, Annuar added.

"How to work when there is someone who is not doing their duties? It is because we want to continue doing our duty towards the rakyat as we're facing the elections, that is why we had to make this difficult decision," he said.

He also pointed out that this is not the first time the party has made this kind of decision.

"The same decision was made in 1998 by (then party president) Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and the same decision again in 2008 where (current party president) Najib Abdul Razak, as the vice-president, took over the duties of the deputy," he noted.

Party vice-president Hishamuddin Hussein, who chaired the meeting today, also said this decision by the supreme council was made in line with the view of moving forward as a team.

"My personal wish is that the decision that we made in consensus will help us to move forward without the need to question actions which I view as important in our bid to engage the rakyat," he said to reporters after the meeting.

[More to follow]

-Mkini