KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 28 — Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin today declared his party more democratic than those in the opposition when defending the leadership’s recent decision to sack a Wanita Umno leader for breaching party discipline.
The youth and sports minister insisted that Umno practices democracy as its divisions are allowed to determine the party’s leaders.
“In terms of political party, Umno is the most democratic party in Malaysia. We have elections from the supreme council until the divisions, the divisions choose their president now. Not like other parties.
“Other parties like the DAP council, how many can vote for the DAP central executive committee? The one who gets the most votes doesn’t become chairman. So in terms of democracy, Umno is the most democratic,” he said after launching the Bumiputera Funds Convention this morning.
On Tuesday after the Umno supreme council meeting, party president Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced the decision to sack former Gopeng Wanita chief Datuk Hamidah Osman for breaking party rules.
Hamidah has since protested the decision, claiming that she was not made aware of the reasons for her dismissal.
A Malaysiakini report Wednesday said that Hamidah had received a show-cause letter from the party for welcoming former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad at the Subang Airport recently.
But according to Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor in an interview with several media outfits on Thursday, Hamidah was sacked because she had attended an opposition event.
Khairy today also justified Hamidah’s sacking, claiming that she had “crossed a line” and explaining that while Umno members have the freedom to speak freely, it must be within reason.
“We give our members the freedom, (but) there still must be discipline within the party.
“This is a political party, not a market. There must be discipline, we cannot just follow our whims,” he said.
Umno in recent months has dropped the hammer on several of its members who have been critical of the Najib administration, most recently barring Umno deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin from speaking at the opening of the Umno wings at the general assembly next month.
Muhyiddin as well as Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal were removed from the federal Cabinet in July, ostensibly for questioning Najib’s handling of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad issue.
Previously, Umno Wanita member Anina Saadudin was sacked from the party after she filed a lawsuit against Najib at the Kuala Lumpur High Court, seeking to claim a US$650 million (RM2.8 billion) portion of the US$681 million said to have been donated by a friendly Middle Eastern nation to help the Malay ruling party in its 2013 election campaign.
