Supreme council gives solid support to Najib, Muhyiddin to lead Umno

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Najib during a press conference after chairing the Umno supreme council meeting at Menara Dato Onn. — Bernama photo

KUALA LUMPUR: The Umno supreme council (MT), which met yesterday, expressed solid support to the leadership of Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak as party president and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as deputy president.

Najib, who is also the prime minister, said the Umno MT wanted the party president and deputy president as well as top party leaders to unite as a team and take positive action to further strengthen Umno and the Barisan Nasional (BN) among the people.

“With the decision, the (Umno) MT also said that if there were issues arising, the MT hoped they would be given the opportunity to contribute concrete and positive ideas so that they could be tackled and resolved appropriately,” he said.

Najib said this at a media conference after chairing the MT meeting at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) here yesterday.

The meeting, that began at 3.30pm and ended at 7pm, was also attended by Muhyiddin, who is the deputy prime minister, as well as two party vice-presidents namely Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that another vice-president, Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal was not present as he was performing the ‘umrah’ in Makkah.

Others present were the heads of the party wings namely Wanita Umno chief Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, Youth head Khairy Jamaluddin and Puteri head Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin.

During the brief media conference lasting five minutes, Najib said he also deeply appreciated the concrete ideas contributed by his deputy president, Muhyiddin, at the meeting.

“I had a heart-to-heart meeting with him this morning and I gave the assurance that we will frequently have heart-to-heart discussions so that the Umno leadership at the top level is always in a comfortable position and strong so that no one can break us up, especially my deputy president and I.

“So, if there were rumours that spread before this meeting, then those who spread the rumours will be disappointed,” he said.

Najib said this when commenting on the news portals that support for him was purportedly declining. Commenting on the Umno MT meeting yesterday, the party president said he took note of the factors that arose from the Parliamentary by-elections (PRK) in Rompin and Permatang Pauh.

At the Rompin PRK last Tuesday where BN retained the Rompin Parliamentary seat with a lower majority, BN candidate Datuk Hasan Arifin only obtained a majority vote of 8,895 after polling 23,796 votes compared with the 14,901 votes garnered by PAS candidate Nazri Ahmad, 40.

In the 13th general election, the incumbent Tan Sri Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis retained the seat he held for almost six terms by defeating former PAS Wanita head, Nuridah Mohd Salleh with a majority of 15,114 votes.

The Rompin by election was held following the death of Jamaluddin in a helicopter crash in Semenyih, Selangor on April 4.

Meanwhile in the Permatang Pauh by-election last Thursday, the parliamentary seat was won by PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail who polled 30,316 votes, compared with the 21,475 votes garnered by the BN candidate, Suhaimi Sabudin, giving Dr Wan Azizah a majority of 8,841 votes. — Bernama