Umno waiting for RoS nod to hold meetings

Umno will wait for further instructions from the Registrar of Societies (RoS) before allowing its branches and divisions to hold their annual meetings, which has been postponed due to the movement control order (MCO).

Party secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan said Umno headquarters had received a letter from the RoS to put on hold its meetings until June 30 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Following the advice, we have instructed all branches and divisions to put on hold their annual meetings.

“We will seek the authorities’ advice before sending out an instruction to party members to have their respective meetings,” he said.

Umno’s 22,000 branches were scheduled to have their meetings between Feb 15 and April 19, while divisions had earlier been directed to hold the meeting between June 1 and July 20.

The party had also set Sept 26-30 for its annual general assembly but the dates are likely to be changed now with the delay in divisional and branch meetings.

The government had imposed the MCO from March 18 before announcing the recovery MCO phase from June 10 to Aug 31.

Among the activities which are not allowed yet is large gatherings.

Umno is not the only party which had to postpone its activities.

Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia was supposed to hold its inaugural elections this year.

The election was initially planned to take place at division level nationwide on April 18.

Bersatu election committee chairman Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar said the party’s annual general assembly, set to be held in June, had to be postponed due to the pandemic.

Checks with several other political parties also showed that no dates had been fixed for their respective annual general assembly.

Officials from MCA and MIC said the dates for the annual meeting had yet to be decided.

Parti Bersatu Sabah secretarygeneral Datuk Jahid Jahim said the party would decide on the matter after receiving a clear directive from the authorities.

“Because of Covid-19 and the prohibition for large gatherings, we have not set a date for our annual general assembly. We will wait for a decision from the RoS,” he said.

Last week, Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said meetings, seminars, courses and training would soon be allowed but must strictly follow the standard operating procedures.