FORMER Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin said he wouldn’t be surprised if UMNO makes the decision to suspend or expel him from the party despite the process not going through the party’s disciplinary board.
He noted that previously there were other UMNO leaders who were also denied the opportunity to defend themselves and had been suspended or expelled from the party based on the decision by the party’s Supreme Council.
“Such matters should go through the party’s disciplinary board, but the Supreme Council has made many unilateral decisions. They’ve been making decisions without referring to the disciplinary board,” Khairy was quoted as saying by Utusan Malaysia.
He cited former UMNO Supreme Council member Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman and former Alor Setar UMNO chief Datuk Mohd Yusof Ismail as instances where the party disciplinary board was not involved in the decision to suspend or expel them.
However, Khairy acknowledged that he had yet to receive any letter from the party’s disciplinary board on the matter, nor had he been summoned to show cause.
“I haven’t received anything from the disciplinary board. There has been no attempt to reach me either. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m not consulted on the matter or if the UMNO Supreme Council decides to bring up my issue or that of my fellow party members,” he said.
It was previously reported that the former health minister’s claims that “imported delegates” were “brought in” for the recent UMNO general assembly could potentially jeopardise his membership in the party.
During the UMNO assembly, Khairy claimed that tags on chairs meant for UMNO delegates at the Dewan Merdeka were removed in an attempt to bring in “imported delegates” to pass the motion to have no contests for the top two party posts.
The UMNO general assembly on Jan 11 had passed a motion that the top two posts would not be contested in party polls, to be held before May 19.
This means that Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan will remain as UMNO president and deputy president respectively for another term.
According to party procedure, any disciplinary issue brought up at the management meeting would be referred to the disciplinary board.
The disciplinary board will then carry out a probe after which the findings would be presented to the management committee. The management committee would then inform the supreme council for a decision to be made.
Yesterday, Zahid told a press conference the UMNO Supreme Council will be deciding on Khairy’s fate, as well as that other UMNO members who had allegedly “sabotaged” the party in the recent general election (GE15) in its meeting tonight.
He said it would be part of the party’s clean-up operation, as what had been promised during the party’s annual general meeting two weeks ago. – Jan 27, 2023
Main pic credit: Bernama
