Bersatu supreme council can't simply sack people, says Mukhriz

Bersatu deputy president Mukhriz Mahathir has reminded the party’s supreme council to heed due process should it want to take disciplinary action against any member.

This comes after speculation that the council harbours plans to remove him and Bersatu chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad from the party.

“Allow us to defend ourselves if there are allegations of wrongdoing against us. Whether it is we have breached the party constitution or any rules,” Mukhriz (above) said during a press conference in Alor Setar, Kedah today.

Should the council want to take action on a member, Mukhriz explained that complaint letters need to be lodged.

The disciplinary board would then need to conduct an investigation into the complaint before issuing the member a show-cause letter.

“The member will be given a chance to defend themself before the disciplinary board metes out punishment. After that, the member can still appeal the punishment with the appeals board. Therefore, it is a long process.

“The supreme council can’t make a decision to just remove anyone. That much is clear,” he said.

Mukhriz added that he had yet to receive any complaint letters from the party.

Only chairperson can call meeting

The supreme council had also previously called for a meeting without informing or inviting Mukhriz and Mahathir.

The meeting was later postponed after news broke on it.

Today, Mukhriz stressed that party rules stipulate that only the party chairperson - Mahathir - can call for such meetings.

He chided Bersatu’s disputed secretary-general Hamzah Zainuddin (above) over the move.

“Maybe the home minister (Hamzah) wants to make himself the secretary-general and doesn’t think the party constitution is important.

“He does as he wishes and violates the constitution. I think this is not right,” he remarked.

Bersatu is split between Mahathir and Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin.

The party leadership, many of whom are aligned to Muhyiddin, previously installed Hamzah to replace Marzuki Yahaya - a Mahathir ally.

Mahathir has refused to recognise the move - resulting in Bersatu having two secretary-generals. - Mkini