KOTA KINABALU: Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had planned to discuss the party’s direction with the Sabah Umno leadership earlier this month but the latter asked for a postponement, Umno vice-president Ismail Sabri Yaakob revealed today.
Ismail said the Bagan Datoh MP was scheduled to explain the party’s stand on being an effective opposition and steps to strengthen Umno in Sabah.
“The president had visited all the states in the peninsula. He was supposed to come here on Dec 3 but the Sabah leadership requested him to postpone it.
“It was then fixed for Jan 12 and 13 but as you know, now it’s too late,” he said at the Sabah Umno building here.
Ismail was responding to questions on claims by former senior Sabah Umno leaders, who ditched the party yesterday, that there was a lack of clear direction from the central leadership.
He said the party’s stand and direction was passed down to the new Sabah Umno leadership today.
Ismail also said his colleague, Umno vice-president Khaled Nordin, was supposed to have come to Sabah today to discuss the granting of powers of autonomy as requested by the state chapter previously.
“But this plan was disrupted because of the change in leadership.
“However, we will continue this discussion with the new leadership as it is our policy to give autonomy to Sabah. They can have their own plans to strengthen the party in the state,” he said.
While former Sabah Umno chief Hajiji Mohd Noor had highlighted the lack of direction as the main reason for the exodus, it is said that the senior Umno leaders were unhappy with the delay in granting autonomy to the state.
It is also understood that the Sabah Umno leaders had become uneasy with the central Umno’s growing relations with Islamist party PAS.
Zahid had previously said that Sabah Umno would be given a free hand to decide its direction. This was after receiving a memorandum from Sabah Umno seeking autonomy last September.
Ismail brushed aside the claim that Sabah Umno leaders were not comfortable with central Umno’s closer ties with PAS, saying there was no official pact with the Islamist party.
“There have been no discussions, no committee of any sort, but only that we work together on issues involving the people.
“These issues are those that touch on race and religion like the ICERD recently,” he said, referring to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
The exodus from Umno yesterday involved four MPs, nine assemblymen, two senators and 21 division heads.
Kinabatangan MP Bung Moktar Radin was yesterday named as the new Sabah Umno chief, replacing Hajiji. Yaakob Khan was named the state’s deputy chief and Jefri Arifin as the secretary.
Tenom division chief Raime Unggi was named Sabah Umno information chief, taking over from former Dewan Rakyat speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia, who also quit the party. -FMT
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