The Umno supreme council has decided that the party’s MPs may use their “own discretion” when voting on any issue in the upcoming parliamentary session, said Umno secretary-general Ahmad Maslan.
“However, it should be understood that Umno MPs should use all party decisions as a guide in performing their duties,” he said in a statement regarding the supreme council meeting last night.
The cryptic statement came after the supreme council decided to withdraw the party’s support for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and demand for an interim prime minister to take his place.
Despite yesterday’s decision, however, it is still unclear how many Umno MPs will adhere to the supreme council's decision to withdraw support for Muhyiddin.
Earlier, sources told Malaysiakini the supreme council decided that the party’s 38 MPs will have some leeway on how they vote in the upcoming Dewan Rakyat session, but there are conflicting claims on whether this includes deciding whether to continue supporting Muhyiddin.
The majority of Umno lawmakers are believed to be aligned to Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Hishammuddin Hussein, who were both promoted to deputy prime minister and senior minister respectively yesterday.
Meanwhile, some Umno MPs such as Shahidan Kassim and Annuar Musa had previously advocated for Umno to remain with the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government. Both are now calling for more clarity on the supreme council decision.
Parliament is slated to sit for five days from July 26 to Aug 2. Muhyiddin’s principal private secretary Marzuki Mohamad has assured there will be debates and voting during the session, but it is up to the prime minister to set the agenda.
On other matters, Ahmad (above) said the supreme council has confirmed that branch-level annual general meetings for the party’s four wings nationwide would be held from Aug 15 to Sept 30. This is for a total of 66,287 meetings across 191 divisions.
“Branch meetings without elections can be attended by 25 percent of members, which meets quorum, which should be done virtually, or face-to-face with standard operating procedures,” he said.
Divisional meetings will also be limited to 25 percent attendance but the dates will only be announced later. - Mkini
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