Former Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin has hit back at Umno supreme council member Puad Zarkashi who criticised his approval of a pair of Umno members who lodged a complaint with the Registry of Societies (ROS) against the party's decision to leave its top two party post uncontested.
The former Rembau MP told the New Straits Times that Umno belonged to its members and any of them had the right to seek clarification from the ROS.
"Does Umno only belong to the top leaders? Umno belongs to all its members. Any member can ask ROS for clarification.
"We must respect any Umno member who wants clarity since the Rembau motion is very controversial with many legal experts questioning its validity," Khairy said.
He repeated his support for any Umno member who wished to clarify the validity of the controversial motion.
Earlier, Puad had taken aim at the two Umno members who filed a notice of objection to the ROS over a motion passed at last weekend’s Umno general assembly.
"Khairy has praised the duo who filed the complaint to the ROS, calling them brave and level-headed.
"Are they being brave or are they being used?
"Those at the top should have been the ones to file the complaint - now that would be called courage. Don't use those in the lower rungs of the party, let alone former staff officers. Is that level-headed?" Puad asked.
Democracy in Umno
The duo - Muhammad Aizat Fikri Mohd Nasir and Muhammad Fiqri Firdaus Muhammad Rom - who hail from Kuala Terengganu and Seremban respectively, claimed that the resolution to not have Umno’s top two positions open for contest in the party’s upcoming election is invalid and contravenes the party constitution.
They cited Clause 9.3 of the party’s constitution, which states that the party president and deputy president must be elected through a divisional representative assembly every three years.
“This is to ensure that there is democracy in Umno. In proposing that the two highest positions in Umno not be contested, the Rembau Umno delegate will be allowing certain quarters to take advantage (of the situation), which will weaken and affect democracy at Umno’s highest level,” Aizat was quoted as saying by Malaysia Gazette.
The motion not to open the top two posts to contest was proposed by Rembau delegate Mohd Shukri Samsudin, who submitted it as a supplementary motion while debating the president’s policy speech.
The proposal caused unease among some of the general assembly’s delegates, although many stood up in support of it.
A notable opponent to the motion was Khairy, who commended Aizat and Fiqri for their objection.
“Well done, guys. There are still brave and level-minded individuals in Umno.
“I am confident in ROS’ credibility to review Rembau’s motion in the general assembly,” the former health minister said on Instagram.
Taking jibe at Tok Mat
Khairy had also taken a jibe at his deputy president Mohamad Hasan for allegedly hiding behind Shukri’s proposal.
He revealed that Shukri is from the party’s Rembau division and expressed bewilderment that the motion came from a division led by Mohamad.
"This is weird because the deputy president (Mohamad) himself is the head of the Rembau division.
"If you want to bring this sort of additional motion, cover lah sikit (do it more discreetly). What happened to you, Mat Hasan?”
It was previously believed that Khairy had the intention to challenge party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in the party polls again, after having done so in the 2018 party election - and losing to Zahid.
Khairy had called delegates not to vote for the motion and made an allegation that there was an attempt to bring in phantom voters to support the motion. This proved to be futile.
It is also believed that among those who voted against the motion was party vice-president Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who has been vocal about referring the matter to ROS. - Mkini
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