KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 28 — The Umno general assembly next month will not likely feature any controversial remarks against the leadership as speakers and speeches have already been screened, Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said.

The Pulai Umno division chief noted the concerns over the supreme council’s decision to disallow deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin from speaking at the Youth, Puteri and Wanita wings, but said the issue is not expected to be raised during the speeches by delegates.

“There may be scattered criticisms but I don’t think there will be an assault on the party leadership.

“There will not be speeches that will attack or assault the top leadership,” Nur Jazlan told Malay Mail Online.

The Umno deputy minister pointed out that delegates at the assembly were chosen by the party’s state leaderships, and that the topics for debate and discussion would have been vetted beforehand by the chapters’ leaders.

“Sure they can speak their minds but the speakers are selected by the state Umno. Usually there is no opportunity for anyone who has the floor to run off topic,” Nur Jazlan.

He said this will likely even be true for the delegation from Johor, where Muhyiddin is still said to command some influence, having once been the state mentri besar.

“Even for Johor, I do not think the mentri besar (Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin) is going to allow any free expression of opinion, there are already topics at hand to talk about,” Nur Jazlan, who is also a Johor leader, explained.

He said although Muhyiddin has shown his desire to criticise the Umno leadership on the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) issue, others from the state were not likely to go in the same direction.

As is the case with the other states, talking points for speakers during the assembly have already been fixed, Nur Jazlan repeated.

“Yes, there is sympathy for Muhyiddin in Johor but members there do not want the unity in Umno to be affected,” Nur Jazlan said.

After Umno’s supreme council meeting on Tuesday, party president and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced that the Youth, Wanita and Puteri wing assemblies next month will be opened by their respective heads and not by the party’s deputy president.

The following day, Muhyiddin questioned the decision, noting that he had officiated previous assemblies as deputy president for the past six years.

Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin later explained that it was the wing heads who requested to officiate their assemblies and denied that it was aimed at silencing Muhyiddin.

Muhyiddin and Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal were removed from the federal Cabinet late July, ostensibly for questioning Najib’s handling of the 1MDB issue.

Muhyiddin and Shafie, who remain as Umno deputy president and vice-president respectively, have since continued to criticise the party leadership, prompting demands for Umno to discipline the duo for their overt attacks.