KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14 — Datuk Seri Ikmal Hisham Abdul Aziz resigned from Umno and all his party posts today, handing the party yet another blow after most of its Sabah lawmakers abandoned it this week.

According to the Sinar Harian portal, Ikmal announced his departure in front of around 800 Umno members from the party’s Tanah Merah division where he is also the federal lawmaker.

"The decision was very difficult, but it has to be made in order to rescue the Malays and Islam,” he was quoted as saying.

"Even though I will be mocked, I am ready to accept it all for the good of the people of Tanah Merah.”

With his exit, Umno is now down to just 43 seats in the Parliament.

Earlier this week, all of the party’s federal and state lawmakers in Sabah save for Datuk Bung Moktar Radin and Tan Sri Musa Aman resigned from Umno.

* A previous version of this story contained an error which has since been corrected.