No name proposed by Umno for Senate president post - sources

Umno had made the decision not to propose its own candidate for the Dewan Negara president post, said sources.

According to sources, there were some in the party who wanted Umno to propose its candidate to be chosen by the Senate today, but it was not the wish of Umno top leadership.

"Umno did not propose any name for the Dewan Negara president position.

"There was no such thing as an emergency meeting held (that led to Umno deciding to withdraw its proposal), and Umno did not propose any name," a source inside the party told Malaysiakini.

The position today officially goes to Bersatu's Rais Yatim after a voting process in Dewan Negara saw him coming first before Yusmadi Yusoff, who was proposed by Pakatan Harapan.

Rais, who was proposed by Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin, received 45 votes against Yusmadi’s 19.

Prior to this, there were two names speculated to be proposed for the post, namely Mohamad Ali Mohamad (Umno) and Theodore Douglas Lind (Warisan).

However, Mohamad's name was not proposed when the choosing process was conducted, while Lind reportedly withdrew from the contest.

Meanwhile, Yusmadi, when contacted by Malaysiakini, said there was no issue of Rais defeating him in becoming the Dewan Negara speaker.

Instead, he said his effort was to reform the Dewan Negara itself.

"Winning or losing (doesn't arise here). The victory for me is when the efforts all these while to reform Dewan Negara has become successful. For the first time in the history of Dewan Negara and Malaysia's Parliament, the voting of a Dewan Negara speaker happens in this era.

"What is important is the efforts of my fellow senators in doing the process, which makes me happy.

"And for me, on behalf of PKR, I would like to extend my congratulations because the reformasi agenda that we fought for since the past 20 years had been translated in the Dewan Negara," he said.

Yusmadi also extends his congratulations to Rais and thanks Lind for giving way to him.

Malaysiakini is trying to get the reactions from Pejuang. - Mkini