Umno to set up war room
Party to stay ahead with permanent dept, says Mohamad
KUALA LUMPUR: Umno is setting up an election department to serve as a permanent “war room”.
Party deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, who disclosed this, said the move was to get the party to mobilise and fully equip its election machinery “anytime, anywhere”.
“Before, we only had war rooms prior to elections and by-elections. With this special department, we will always stay ahead in terms of preparing the party machinery at the grassroots.
“This will be one of the most important departments in Umno. There are lots of statistics to compile and surveys to be done,” he told a press conference after chairing the Umno supreme council at the party headquarters here yesterday.
Asked who would head the department, he said someone suitable would be picked.
“The person need not be from the supreme council. The person must specialise (in election matters),” he added.
Mohamad, who is handling the duties of the Umno president, said although Umno was a part of the Barisan Nasional, the war room would be at the party level for now.
The first event to be handled by the department is expected to be the Rantau state by-election on April 13, with Mohamad himself as the candidate.
Mohamad had won the seat unopposed in the May general election after his Pakatan Harapan candidate was stopped from entering the nomination centre.
The Election Court in November ordered that a by-election be held, with the Federal Court recently affirming that ruling.
Asked whether there will be any gagging of Umno leaders – namely Padang Rengas MP Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz who is now the Barisan secretary-general – to stop him from making remarks deemed detrimental, Mohamad said “this is a free country”.
MCA and MIC had lashed out at what they said were racist remarks by Nazri during the Semenyih by-election campaign.
On Monday, MCA and MIC declared their intention to forge a new alliance, with both parties pointing the finger at Nazri for the decision.
On Tuesday, MCA and MIC issued a joint statement saying they were opposed to Nazri attending today’s Barisan supreme council meeting to discuss the future of the coalition.
They also said Nazri’s appointment as Barisan secretary-general was unconstitutional and was never formally discussed with the coalition’s supreme council.
On this issue, Mohamad said it was not discussed at the meeting.
“I do not think they (MCA and MIC) want to leave Barisan. They are our concern. They love Barisan more,” Mohamad said.
Nazri had said he would skip the meeting to enable MCA and MIC to discuss the issue.
Mohamad also announced that the new parliamentary Opposition Leader would be Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who is Bera MP, with Padang Terap MP Datuk Seri Mahadzir Khalid taking over as Chief Whip.