Umno not an illegal party, says Ku Nan

Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor (above) has denied Umno was an illegal party and assured its members that the party can contest in the 14th general election (GE14).

Amid concerns among the grassroots regarding the party's status following the delay in holding the 2017 Umno Supreme Council election, Tengku Adnan assured that it was "business as usual", and that the party would continue to operate in line with its founding principles.

"The Registrar of Societies (ROS) is given the power under The Societies Act 1966, and additional powers under Section 3A of the same act, which came into force, from June 10, 1988.

"The extension of time to hold Umno elections for the year 2017, has also been given by ROS, well within their powers.

"ROS' letter, dated Oct 31, 2017, to the Umno secretary-general's office, allows the choosing of the Umno supreme council to be postponed, until at least Apr 19, 2019," Tengku Adnan was quoted saying by the BN Backbenchers Club (BNBBC) portal today.

Umno had initially announced in 2015 that they would postpone party elections - which were supposed to be held the latest by October 2016 - by 18 months.

This meant that the party elections should be held latest by this April 19.

Tengku Adnan had in late February said that party elections would be held on April 19, 2019, after getting the approval from the ROS. 

Yesterday, former Wanita Umno chief Rafidah Aziz had shared on her Facebook a friend's legal point of view, that Umno cannot contest in GE14 and it is automatically considered illegal after April 19 this year, due to the delay in holding party polls.

She said that ROS had no power to give the time extension and that Tengku Adnan had relied on the wrong and irrelevant set of laws to justify the extension.

The former minister likened Umno to a "headless chicken" with no members, and no executive powers, and claimed that its president Najib Abdul Razak cannot be sworn in as the prime minister should BN win GE14, as the party he leads is no longer "legal".  - Mkini