THE Registrar of Societies (ROS) approved an additional motion passed at the 2022 UMNO General Assembly for the president and deputy president posts to be uncontested in the party’s election, said UMNO president and Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.He said UMNO had received a letter from the Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution regarding the decision from ROS on Friday (March 3).“The letter from the home minister was about the notification of the decision on the exemption from compliance with Section 13 (1) (c) (14), through Section 70 of the Societies Act 1966 (Act 832), with regard to the passing of the additional motion at the general assembly,” Malaysiakini reported him as saying at a press conference yesterday (March 4).Zahid said that the letter from the KDN was a confirmation that the posts of UMNO president and deputy president were confirmed to be uncontested.He added that the letter also confirmed that when the ROS conducts an investigation, the decision of the KDN according to Section Article 70 of the Organisations Act 1966 is fully effective and gives validity to the two highest positions not being contested.The UMNO elections are scheduled from Feb 1 to March 18, with the Annual UMNO Branch Conference and Branch Committee Elections, Women, Youth Movement and Branch Girls Movement being from Feb 1 to 26.Former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin and former prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob voiced concerns that the no-contest motion was illegal.Khairy had accused the party leaders of tampering with the vote on the motion, saying non-council members were allowed in the voting chamber to support the motion.Khairy was eventually sacked from the party, but it was based on his criticism of the leadership of the party during the 15th General Election (GE15).The resolution to allow the party’s top two positions to remain vacant was opposed by Ismail, who said in January that doing so may violate the party constitution.The former prime minister stated there were two “schools of thinking” when interpreting the motion voted on during the last day of the 2022 UMNO general assembly today.He said that although the UMNO general assembly was the party’s highest decision-making body, the motions it adopted still could not go against what was in the UMNO constitution.As for Zahid, the issue is now settled, and the party can focus on its internal elections. — March 5, 2023
Main photo credit: Bernama
