Making leaders quit over court convictions will cripple Umno, say members
Amending the United Malays National Organisation (Umno) constitution to compel office-bearers who have been convicted in court to give up their posts will leave the party open to internal sabotage and fractionalisation, members said.
(Today Online) – They fear that such an amendment to Clause 9.9 of the party charter would not only affect the top leadership, but its impact would be felt all the way down to divisions and branches.
They said the party leadership should think it through before pushing for the change, and must ensure that the clause is not abused should the change come through.
“If you want to amend the clause to remove leaders from their party posts if they have been found guilty by the court, then there should not be a problem,” said a source, who asked not to be identified.
“But even so, there must be in-depth discussions about this. It cannot cover all types of convictions.”
If the clause is amended to cover all types of convictions, he said, it would lead to the unfair sacking of elected leaders, especially if they were found guilty of lesser offences or if they had been framed.
