Ex-minister Khairy claims of plan to bulldoze no-contest move for Umno’s top two chiefs

KUALA LUMPUR - Former Umno youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin has appealed to delegates at the ongoing Umno general assembly not to allow what he said was a plan to bulldoze a motion for the two top posts in the party to be uncontested in upcoming party polls.

The former Malaysian health minister alleged that there is a conspiracy by some delegates to “bulldoze” the motion in order for it to be approved at the four-day assembly that ends on Saturday.

He further claimed that some of the name tags of delegates at the main meeting hall, Dewan Merdeka (Independence Hall), had been removed to replace them with “imported” delegates to ensure the motion will be approved.

“So it is important for the delegates not to carry out the ‘Dewan Merdeka Move’ to kill democracy (within Umno) and deny the voices of the grassroots to determine the future of the party and to pick who is qualified to lead,” he said in a video posted on TikTok on Saturday.

But the claims were dismissed by Umno’s information chief Isham Jalil, who said in a Facebook post that the delegates know one another, and any person who isn’t authorised to be in the hall would be identified quickly by the others. Isham said there were no “imported delegates” as claimed by Mr Khairy.

There are more than 5,000 delegates attending the meeting at party headquarters, with the vote to be held after 3pm on Saturday.

Mr Khairy and his allies are pushing for the two top posts - Umno president and deputy president - to be contested at its polls that must be held by May.

Umno president Zahid Hamidi and his deputy Mohamad Hasan are Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister, respectively.

Some party leaders have said a contest for the two top posts could destabilise the party after it did badly in the November general election, as should they lose, this would affect the party’s position in the Anwar Ibrahim administration.

Delegates from Johor and the Federal Territories had earlier rejected the motion of no-contest for the top two posts in the party.

Mr Khairy has also given his assurance that a contest for the top two posts would not lead to a split within the party.

“Whoever wins will get the mandate from the party. Whoever wins we will support and we will set aside our differences after the conclusion of the polls.

“A contest during the party polls is normal and once a leader wins, we will close our ranks.

“The narrative that a contest will bring a split is completely false,” he said.

He said that Umno did not perform well in the 15th General Election, only winning 26 parliamentary seats.

Mr Khairy had previously said that party president Zahid Hamidi had given his assurance that he is “ready to fight” in the party elections. Umno must hold its party polls before May 19. THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK