Padang Rengas Umno adamant top party posts be uncontested

PADANG RENGAS: The Padang Rengas Umno division is adamant with its stand to table a motion that the highest posts in the party, namely, that of president and deputy president, be not contested in the coming election at the 2017 Umno General Assembly next week.

Prior to this, Umno Supreme Council member Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz had said several times he would be submitting a motion for the proposal as both posts were in the interest of the party and the Padang Rengas Umno division.

“The motion will be tabled as we don’t want certain quarters harbouring aspirations to contest the two posts. This is not a personal matter and the two posts are in the interest of the party and Padang Rengas Umno insists on the motion being accepted even if it is not debated.

“I feel party unity is very important and this year, there will be no clamp on the delegates to submit any issue on the party as compared to the 60s,” he said.

He was speaking at a media conference after opening a Padang Rengas-level UPSR Excellence Award Ceremony, Back to School Contribution and Contribution to the Village Development and Security Committee at Lubuk Merbau Millennium Hall yesterday.

Mohamed Nazri, who is also Padang Rengas MP said certain quarters criticised (Prime Minister) Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak not for personal reason but in the interest of the party.

The post of Umno president is now held by Najib while (Deputy Prime Minister) Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi currently shoulders the duties of the deputy president.

Meanwhile, Nazri who is Tourism and Culture Minister, said the bill for the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 2017 which proposes waiver of the mandatory death sentence which had been approved at a Dewan Rakyat sitting recently, could save and help victimised drug mules.

He said he had voiced out for an amendment of the act when he was Minister in the Prime MInister’s Department responsible for the law and parliament affairs.

“The amendment can help judges to decide between the dealth penalty or life imprisonment and the cane. This is a good development to save those who became drug mules because they were unaware they were carrying drugs,” he said. - Bernama