PORT DICKSON, Oct 24 – Thirteen branch chiefs of the 54 Umno branches hold a press conference in the Telok Kemang division at Port Dickson Golf Club, Negri Sembilan here today declared they had lost confidence in Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak’s leadership and urged him to step down as party president in order to restore Umno’s credibility before the next general election.
“There is no guarantee,” said Umno Taman TKK branch chief Kamarul Azman Habibur Rahman when asked what was the guarantee that calls urging Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak to resign would strengthen the party at a press conference of the ”Suara hati akar umbi Umno Telok Kemang” at the Port Dickson Golf Club here today.
However, said Kamarul, the problems faced by Umno’s top leadership would not contribute to positive developments in facing the coming general election. Meanwhile, he explained that change was needed so that the rakyat’s support towards Umno could be restored.
He said that the situation today is very different when Umno members themselves dispute the credibility of the top leadership. While, the Former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had previously resigned following pressure by Umno leaders and members.
However, the decision did not add to the strength of the party when Barisan Nasional only won 133 parliamentary seats in the 13th General Election, a reduction from the 140 seats in the election before that. Kamarul also stressed that he and other branch chiefs did not care if action was taken against them for urging the party’s president to resign.
“I think there are three categories of Umno members, those who know what is happening and remain silent, those who oppose what was wrong and get rich, and those who fight for the truth and go nowhere. We are the third category,” he said, adding that former Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was the best person to replace Najib.
