KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 5 — Former Umno supreme council member Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman's appeal to overturn his six years suspension from the party was rejected today, said Umno information chief Isham Jalil.
He said the party had decided the disciplinary breach was too severe for the party to ignore.
"The appeal was rejected [by the party] because of disciplinary reasons,” he told reporters after Umno Supreme Council meeting at the party’s headquarters here.
Tajuddin was suspended in Oct last year and was not chosen to defend his Pasir Salak seat in GE15.
In June last year, Tajuddin was sacked from the Malay nationalist party’s supreme council. He was also dropped as Malaysia’s ambassador to Indonesia in July.
After he was subsequently dropped from the Umno supreme council, Tajuddin held a press conference accusing Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi of leading the party’s MPs to support PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s bid to be prime minister in 2020.
Isham also added that the whole Arau division will be suspended following the sacking of its former chief Tan Sri Shahidan Kassim last month.
"An administrative chief will be appointed soon. Arau division members will serve as observers in next week’s Umno general assembly,” he said.
Shahidan defected to Perikatan Nasional (PN) after he was dropped from the Barisan Nasional GE15 ticket and subsequently contested and won under their rival.
On another matter regarding next week’s general assembly, Isham added that the supreme council did not discuss or make any decision regarding the invitation of other party leaders as guests to the event.
On January 3, Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan said the supreme council will decide whether to extend an invitation to leaders of other parties in the unity government to attend the opening of its 2022 general assembly, which will start on Friday, January 13.
