PETALING JAYA: Umno should go ahead with its party elections without allowing anyone to hold influence over the democratic practice the party has been adhering to for decades, says Padang Rengas division chief Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz.
He said anytime was a good time for the party to carry out the elections for all the posts now that the 15th General Elections (GE15) was over.
"We are the oldest party, and we have been democratic for decades. As such, I see no reason why we must postpone the elections any longer.
"Usually, we have the elections before the GE, the next one will be in five years. What is going to happen if we keep pushing it further?" he told The Star on Saturday (Dec 24).
Nazri also criticised those who suggested that the president and deputy president posts to not be in the running in the party elections.
He described the call as undermining the capabilities of Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.
"This is something that Zahid or Tok Mat did not even ask but these are suggestions made by others.
"If we want to address the disunity in Umno, we must proceed with the elections.
"Mind you, this is not the first time the party has faced such a problem, all the past presidents from the time of Tunku Abdul Rahman until Datuk Seri Najib Razak had their own challenges.
"We will lose our credibility if we don’t practice the democracy we strongly believe in," he said.
On Dec 11, Umno Sungai Besar division chief Datuk Seri Jamal Md Yunos suggested that the party president and deputy president posts should not be contested in the party elections.
He said that the party was still weak and unstable, as such a motion should be presented at the party general assembly next month.
Echoing the same sentiment, on Thursday (Dec 22) Pasir Salak deputy division chief Khairul Azwan Harun said that Ahmad Zahid’s position as president should be retained for another term.
Nazri said that both Jamal and Khairul lost greatly in GE15, thus they did not hold any credibility to talk about what is best for the party.
"Perhaps there are fears that they will not be given another chance to contest again in GE and suggested, even though Ahmad Zahid did not ask for such a thing.
"They are merely looking out for their own agenda," he said.
He added if there was an effort to prevent certain positions from being contested, Umno would become a party that is no longer democratic.
As stipulated in the Umno constitution amendment, the party elections would be held six months after GE15 while the general assembly had been postponed to January next year.
