Abdullah to meet Ali about No 2 race
(The Malaysian Insider) – Outgoing Umno president Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has promised to meet Datuk Seri Mohamed Ali Rustam today over the party's disciplinary board's decision to bar the vice-president from contesting the deputy presidency.
The Prime Minister told this to about 150 supporters of the Melaka Chief Minister who welcomed him home at the Royal Malaysian Air Force in Subang last night after his visit to Indonesia.
Batu Gajah Umno division head Datuk Mohd Yusoff Kassim said they had met Abdullah and had expressed their hopes that the party president would review the decision to prohibit Mohd Ali from contesting the deputy presidency in the Umno election next week.
"We appealed to the Prime Minister to reconsider the decision to prohibit Mohd Ali from contesting and he had given a positive response," Bernama quoted him as saying
Mohd Yusoff said that at the meeting which lasted almost 20 minutes, Abdullah promised to consider the matter and meet with Mohd Ali today.
Ali's supporters came from several states including Negeri Sembilan, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory, Perak and Penang, reflecting his popularity among Umno's grassroots. He has been the front-runner in the race for the deputy presidency, ahead of his rivals Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Tan Sri Muhammad Muhd Taib.
Umno Disciplinary Board chairman Tan Sri Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen Tengku Ismail yesterday announced that Ali was barred from contesting after he was found to have breached the Umno Members Code of Ethics for being involved in money politics.
The board also found Khairy Jamaluddin, who is running for the Umno Youth chief post, guilty of a similar offence but he was only given a warning.
The board, however, cleared former Selangor menteri besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo, also a candidate for the Umno Youth chief post, of breaching the Umno Members Code of Ethics.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who has been nominated unopposed to succeed Abdullah as party president, had said Ali can continue as Melaka chief minister despite being found guilty of money politics.
Former vice-president Tan Sri Isa Samad was suspended for six years in 2005 for a similar offence and lost all party positions. His suspension was lifted last year upon an appeal.
Several Umno members have called the disciplinary board actions a show trial and aimed at ensuring only the preferred few will be elected to senior party posts.
Former Umno president Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who quit the party last May, said the party must crack down on money politics or it will lose support among Malaysians in the next general elections.
Barisan Nasional, the coalition dominated by Umno that has ruled Malaysia since independence in 1957, lost an unprecedented four more states and its traditional two-thirds parliamentary majority in Election 2008 to the Pakatan Rakyat led by sacked deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim,who was Mahathir's one-time political protégé.
