KUALA LUMPUR, June 27 — Umno supreme council candidate Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan said he supported Khairy Jamaluddin’s pledge to introduce a Sabah Umno vice-president if the latter were to win the presidency.

Abdul Rahman said the move was a welcome one because it would allow more political autonomy in Sabah especially when taking into context the state’s history and location.

"Sabah Umno is different from Umno Johor or Umno Perlis, and we have about 100,000 Umno members who are Christian.

"This is the best time for Umno to push for political autonomy in Sabah to allow the leadership space to voice different opinions in any context while maintaining ties with the central leadership,” he said during an Umno supreme council member dialogue hosted by Astro Awani today.

On June 20, Khairy pledged to introduce two more vice-president posts to the party — one reserved for a woman and another for a Sabahan — should he win the post of president.

Khairy had said his pledge for the second veep was aimed at giving Sabah Umno more autonomy.

Asked if he was in Khairy’s camp, Abdul Rahman dismissed such claims, saying all three presidential candidates have their own strengths and he has his own formula to choose a president that would be accepted by 30 million Malaysians nationwide.

The former Kota Belud MP said in Sabah, Umno’s biggest rival is Parti Warisan Sabah, a local political party aligned to Pakatan Harapan (PH), and that Umno would like to avoid being labelled as a "Malayan” party if both were to go head-to-head.

"When you talk about decentralisation of power, Sabah’s unique political landscape becomes the central pillar and the leadership of Sabah Umno should be given space to voice their opinion in the Sabahan context.

"Take, for example, a beer festival, which is not allowed in the Peninsular by Umno, but could be allowed by Sabah Umno because of our multiculturalism and political differences,” he said.