NO CONTEST MOTION FOR TOP 2 UMNO POSTS
To ensure that members focus on GE14, says Nazri
TO ensure party unity, Padang Rengas Umno will table a motion in the Umno General Assembly for the top two positions to be uncontested.
Division chief Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said this was to ensure that Umno members would focus solely on the 14th General Election (GE14) which is set to be held latest by August next year.
Nazri, who is also Tourism and Culture Minister, said Umno members could be distracted if the positions of president and deputy president were contested.
“We don’t want this to happen. That’s why we want the top two positions to be decided now.
“My division has put forward a very important motion, which is that the two top posts should not be contested to ensure that there will be no split in the party.
“We want it to be debated and passed in the Umno General Assembly.
“With this, we will be united and we can face the elections,” he told the New Straits Times in an interview recently.
The Umno General Assembly is scheduled to be held from Dec 5 to 9. Party elections were supposed to be held last year but were postponed by 18 months to allow the party to prepare for GE14.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is also Umno vice-president, has been carrying out the duties of deputy president since the last deputy, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, was sacked for breaking party rules.
Nazri, who is also an Umno Supreme Council member, said, based on precedent, the deputy prime minister had always been made the next Umno deputy president.
“It happened to the late (former premier) Tun Hussein Onn when the late Tun Abdul Razak Hussein was prime minister.
“So, according to precedent, it follows that when it comes to party elections, he (Zahid) should be the deputy president and it should not be contested,” he said.
Asked when he would contest the vice-president’s post, since he had been in Umno for almost four decades, Nazri said the thought had never crossed his mind.
He said he wished to end his political career soon if he was given the chance to do so. Nazri has been the Padang Rengas member of parliament for five terms.
“If I wanted to, I would have done that (contest for vice-president) a long time ago. But, I’m not interested at all. I’m of the same age as Najib. So, when he goes, I will go.
“If he (Najib) says it’s time for me to go, then honestly, I would gladly go. He is my friend and I’ve been supporting him for the past 40 years.”