PAS to attend Umno’s general assembly

Proceedings will be shown live via streaming on party’s FB and official website

As soon as it is over, we will come up with a transformation plan for the party.

Tan Sri Annuar Musa

PETALING JAYA: This year will be the first time PAS attends Umno’s general assembly. Its delegation will be led by the Islamist’s party deputy president Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man.

More than a week ago, Umno president Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and the top leaders had also attended the official opening of PAS’ 64th annual muktamar at the Gong Badak indoor stadium in Terengganu.

The Umno AGM this weekend will be a low-key affair following the loss of the party in the May 9 general election. It starts today with the opening of its three wings.

From the usual five days affair, the assembly this year will only take place for three days and without any live coverage from media companies. Instead, the proceedings will be shown live via streaming over the party’s Facebook and official website.

Around 600 media personnel have registered to cover the event, half of the usual crowd from previous years.

An Umno official explained that this is because television stations have cut down the number of its crew since there will be no live coverage and mini studios.

Even though Umno is no longer the ruling party, its annual meeting is likely to be closely watched, with Umno having 44 seats from 222 seats in the Dewan Rakyat.

The party said it has more than 3.5 million members and 191 divisions, under which there are nearly 22,000 Umno branches.

The three wings will be opened by party deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan tonight, followed by their respective meetings on Saturday.

The much-anticipated presidential address by Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi will take place on the same night.

This will be his first time he is addressing party members as the president since winning the party election in June.

The presidential address is expected to set the tone of the assembly and will likely address various issues, including the direction of the party postGE14.

The congress expects to have 5,739 delegates – comprising 2,760 delegates at the main assembly, 993 delegates for the Wanita wing and 997 for the Youth wing. Another 989 delegates will attend the Puteri meet at the Putra World Trade Centre.

“As soon as it is over, we will come up with a transformation plan for the party,” said Umno secretary-general Tan Sri Annuar Musa.