The Malaysian Insight

UMNO does not intend to stop its members from challenging for the position of president and deputy president in the coming party elections, said its information chief Hizatul Isham Abdul Jalil. 

He said the party has no intention to amend its constitution to prevent any challenge for the top two posts in the coming elections. 

“As of today there is no plan to amend the (Umno) constitution to allow the post to be uncontested. There is none. 

“Because there is no amendment to this constitution, technically anyone who wants to run can run,” he told reporters after an event at the World Trade Center Kuala Lumpur today. 

He said the issue of there being no challenge for the top posts is being played up by certain factions who want to see Umno’s grassroots clash. 

“This issue is being played up to cloud the situation. Umno is a democratic party despite what the people say about it,” he said. 

However, he did not rule out a situation where no party member would want to contest for the top posts. 

“Maybe no one wants to compete, if there is no competition, then the two highest positions will not be contested,” he said. 

Hizatul Isham also hinted that the shift in power in Umno could affect the stability of the unity government comprising Pakatan Harapan (PH), Barisan Nasional (BN), Gabungan Rakyat Sabah and Gabungan Parti Sarawak, as well as several other parties such as Warisan. 

“It can change, when the leadership changes, the agreement (memorandum of understanding) may change, it depends on the Umno leadership after the election. 

“I think if the leadership changes and the new leadership wants 30 MPs (BN) to support others, they can do it. 

“If that happens the government can fall and we will have instability in Malaysian politics like before and that is not good for the economy, affects investor confidence, and is not good for us, and that is my concern,” he said. 

In the 2018 party elections, the position of president was won by Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, defeating his main rivals, Khairy Jamaluddin and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah. 

Zahid received 93 votes over Khairy’s 51 and Tengku Razaleigh’s 23.

Zahid remains a divisive figure in Umno after he pushed to work with PH and Anwar Ibrahim despite others in Umno preferring to work with Perikatan Nasional. 

In a statement today, Zahid, who is also deputy prime minister, hinted that he is ready to be challenged for the position of Umno president. – January 5, 2023.