Last updated on January 17th, 2021 at 03:09 am
KUALA LUMPUR: Umno instructed his MPs to step down by the end of this month from their positions in government and government agencies in an attempt to press for a general election to take place as soon as possible.
Two division leaders told reporters that the order was given by Party President Ahmad Zahid Hamidi at a meeting with leaders of the Umno division at its headquarters here this morning.
Zahid told them Umno had no alternative because the Perikatan Nasional government had refused to understand that the people wanted a change and changes in the administration, a division leader who attended the meeting said.
He was referring to a Suara TV story that quoted Zahid as asking Umno MPs at the end of the month to leave the PN government.
The order was also confirmed by another division chief outside the Klang Valley.
According to the website, Zahid also criticised the inability of Putrajaya to “rectify” the case of Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim. Adib, a firefighter, died a little over two years ago from injuries following a riot in Subang Jaya.
The Coroner’s Court established in Sept 2019 that he died after two or three unidentified persons assaulted him during the riot.
Zahid was also claimed to have said that after the government failed to take action against a minister who is rumored to have had unnatural sex, Umno decided to withdraw its support for the PN.
In the meantime, Umno Secretary-General Ahmad Maslan said any decision to leave the PN government before February by Umno MPs would be finalized tomorrow during the Supreme Council meeting of the party.
However, Ahmad, who is also the newly-appointed Secretary-General of Barisan Nasional, declined to confirm whether Zahid had given such a directive at the meeting.
The quit directive comes one day after Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub, Umno’s Machang MP, resigned as chairman of the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), after just eight months in office.
It also comes as relations reached the breaking point between Umno and PPBM, with representatives from the former publicly practicing their weapons over the weekend on PN. Several popular leaders of Umno have called on their party to withdraw its government support.
