Ahead of Rantau polls, Umno leaders told to watch their words

Umno president Mohamad Hassan today cautioned Umno leaders to be careful of what they say particularly as the party prepares to face another by-election in Rantau.

While stressing that Umno will not issue a gag order against any member or leader, Mohamad, who has formally announced that he will re-contest the Negeri Sembilan state seat, said the leaders themselves should know better than to make remarks detrimental to BN or even the country.

"We do not have any instruction to gag anybody. This is a free country, a democratic country and anybody can say what they want.

"But as a leader, they should know what they want to say. Whether it is detrimental to the party or the country," Mohamad told a press conference after chairing an Umno supreme council meeting at the party's headquarters on Kuala Lumpur today.

"We have never had such kind of instructions or conditions imposed on our members or our leaders.

"But as I said just now, in Rantau be careful. We have to be more careful with what we are saying," he said.

He was asked whether Umno leaders at the meeting today had discussed imposing a gag order on members and leaders who had triggered a backlash against BN with their remarks during past by-election campaigns.

Most recently, BN secretary-general Nazri Aziz sparked public ire for racially charged remarks made during the Semenyih polls.

[More to follow] -Mkini