Hishammuddin Hussein has suggested that Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and those aligned to the latter suspended him and sacked Khairy Jamaluddin from the party as a pre-emptive measure to safeguard their respective positions.
The former Umno vice-president levelled the charge in the comment section of a video posted by former health minister Khairy on Instagram last night.
"What is happening in Umno?” asked the Sembrong MP.
“Now the home minister has been dragged in. This is why we were sacked and suspended - just in case the minister does not give an exemption!" he claimed.
Yesterday, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail revealed that he exempted Umno from a law that could see the party getting deregistered over its upcoming polls - following the decision to bar contests for the president and deputy president posts.
In the video, Khairy said the minister’s decision to invoke Section 70 of the Societies Act 1966 indicated that the Registrar of Societies (ROS) had indeed ruled that Umno's decision to suspend the election for its top two leaders was invalid.
On Jan 28, the Umno supreme council sacked 44 members, including Khairy and former Selangor chief Noh Omar.
Prior to his removal, Khairy had announced his intention to contest for the presidency. He was also critical of Zahid and promised to “cleanse Umno” if he helmed the top post.
Meanwhile, Hishammuddin (above) was slapped with a six-year suspension. No reason was given.
At the height of the political deadlock following the last general election, Hishamuddin was reported to be one of the 10 BN MPs who signed statutory declarations supporting Perikatan Nasional and its chairperson Muhyiddin Yassin.
The SDs were later retracted when BN entered into an alliance with Pakatan Harapan to form the government.
Meanwhile, anti-graft groups expressed concern over Saifuddin's exemption, with Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-M) calling for the minister to justify his action while Bersih wanted changes to be made to the Societies Act to eliminate discretionary powers of the minister. - Mkini
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