Selangor Umno ready to take Noh back, says leader

Selangor Umno is ready to welcome former state party chief Noh Omar back, despite his backing for Perikatan Nasional.

(FMT) – Selangor Umno committee member Jamal Yunos said the party was willing to welcome former members back. He said he was “deeply saddened” to see Noh with Umno’s political rivals.

“As someone who had benefited greatly from (being with) Umno, to be (seen) on the opposing side is very disappointing.

“I have great respect for Noh. I don’t deny his contributions to Umno (but) I would just like to advise my former boss to rethink (his alliances),” he told FMT.

Noh, who had been with Umno for 30 years, was dropped as a Barisan Nasional candidate to make way for Tanjong Karang Wanita Umno chief Habibah Yusof in the general election last November. Habibah lost to PN’s Zulkafperi Hanapi.

He was later sacked from Umno for breaching party discipline.

In April, he confirmed that he would contest a Selangor state seat on a PN ticket. However, he did not state which party he would represent.

Last Friday, Noh said he believed PN stood a good chance of taking Selangor in the upcoming state election. He believed the coalition could win 33 of the 56 seats in the state assembly because Malay votes were no longer divided.

However, Jamal pointed out that under Noh’s leadership, Umno failed to regain control of the Selangor state assembly to Pakatan Rakyat in 2008, and subsequently to Pakatan Harapan.

“Noh has led Selangor Umno twice and participated in three general elections. I won’t say he failed completely, but under his leadership, Umno did not regain strength (in Selangor),” he said.