Wednesday, February 02, 2022

NO Democracy in UMNO? State elections, but still UMNO delays elections - kept Zahid Hamidi in power beyond 3-year term? UMNO members Ok with this?

UMNO President Zahid Hamidi and Supreme Council 3 year term ended on 30 June 2021, and there should have been a party election to determine who will the new President, Supreme Council members and leaders of the party. If there was party election, UMNO members may have chosen other leaders. UMNO without elections may have been declared illegal and de-registered. But, then 'mysteriously' the Registar of Society, not UMNO members, decided to delay elections until end 2022.

Given the UMNO culture, the leadership has a very BIG say on who will contest under the UMNO(as such the BN ticket) for elections - and now Zahid Hamidi and the 'old guard' may have exercised its powers in the Melaka, Sabah and now upcoming Johor elections. Those in UMNO that are for a change of leadership may be discriminated - as they may not be fielded as candidates in this elections.

Yes, despite Covid-19, there have now been several State elections - but UMNO is still delaying its party elections, and so the UMNO members choice of new leaders are kept out of power. In UMNO today, there is an obvious change in membership, whereby many may be wanting to oust the 'court cluster' and the old regime and bring in new CLEANER leaders.

UMNO still does not give ALL members the right to vote in the party President and Supreme Council, unlike PKR. The right to vote still remains in the hands of delegates..

WILL UMNO President Zahid Hamidi and the Supreme Council call for a speedy UMNO elections now to re-establish themselves as being the leadership of choice of the membership...or would they simply delay elections as much as possible until General Elections and other State Elections that may see pro-Zahid people becoming MPs and ADUNs. That political power achieved by having their people as elected reps may indeed help Zahid Hamidi and gang retain power in UMNO...

Freedom of Association rights of UMNO members are being violated, when existing leaders hold on to their powers beyond the 3-year term...but, being a society, it is up to the current members to do the needful... If there is an UMNO elections, who knows - UMNO may just get a new President - Ismail Sabri, the new PM.

LET's recall, what happened in UMNO, and how the Registrar of Societies(ROS) may have used its power wrongly in keeping a party leadership in place beyond the 3-year term?  

On 6/8/2021, the Registrar of Societies said UMNO's election postponement was invalid. The term of President Zahid Hamidi and the others in UMNO leadership came to an end on 30/6/2021. It follows that the term of UMNO Branch and Divisions should have even ended much earlier. [The UMNO membership, despite having a General Meeting held recently on 28/3/2021 could have passed a Resolution to extend the term of the current office bearers, possibly using Covid-19 as a reason, but there was no such decision or resolution. There was also apparently no decision/resolution of membership to allow(or give power to) Zahid and the office bearers to decide on delay of elections.] The application to the Registrar of Societies(ROS) for a delay of elections was also made by the office bearers after their term of office had expired.

ROS director-general Jasri Kasim said the declaration was made based on minutes of an Umno supreme council meeting that decided on the postponement."Based on minutes of a July 7 Umno supreme council meeting to postpone internal elections for the Umno supreme council, divisions and branches for 18 months, the ROS is of the view that the decision is invalid."The decision (by Umno) is invalid because the term of the supreme council office bearers for 2018/2021 had ended on June 30," he added in a statement today.

Then, on 30/8/2021, it was reported that the ROS had CHANGED ITS MIND -  

“Based on the additional information provided to the RoS by Umno’s lawyers on August 9, 11 and 18 as well as testimony from several members of Umno’s supreme council, it was decided that the postponement of Umno’s elections for the term 2021/2023 was done properly.“As such, the appointment of members to the council, divisions and Umno branches will be postponed until a date before December 29, 2022. However, we must have our annual general meeting and divisional meetings with at least one-quarter quorum by 2021,” he said in a statement tonight.

Hence, Zahid Hamidi and the Supreme Council can stay in power simply because of the Regisitar of Society(ROS) for another  one and a half years(have the term of office) - if you ask the Branch and Division leaders, they may be OK as they too stay longer in power - but, if you ask the UMNO membership, they may say NOT OK - We want Elections NOW so we can exercise the right to CHOOSE NEW LEADERS for the next 3 years.... 

See earlier post:- 

UMNO - Risk of Deregistration? Then ROS 'change of mind' and all is OK after UMNO MP becomes PM? ROS must explain...???

ROS declares Umno elections postponement invalid
Published:  Aug 6, 2021 3:30 PM
Updated: 4:52 PM

The Registrar of Societies (ROS) has declared Umno's decision to postpone its party elections as invalid.

ROS director-general Jasri Kasim said the declaration was made based on minutes of an Umno supreme council meeting that decided on the postponement.

"Based on minutes of a July 7 Umno supreme council meeting to postpone internal elections for the Umno supreme council, divisions and branches for 18 months, the ROS is of the view that the decision is invalid.

"The decision (by Umno) is invalid because the term of the supreme council office bearers for 2018/2021 had ended on June 30," he added in a statement today.

The ROS had, in a response on July 19, told Umno it had no reservations to the postponement.

"However, we request urgent submission of details on decisions made by the party's Supreme Council, for purposes review and further validation," said the ROS in a letter to Umno secretary-general Ahmad Maslan, sighted by Malaysiakini.

The ROS' statement today follows hot on the heels of a split among Umno MPs, with Deputy Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who is also an Umno vice-president, leading a larger group in favour of supporting Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and Perikatan Nasional.

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, meanwhile, led 10 other MPs and Umno leaders who withdrew support for Muhyiddin as decided by delegates at the party’s last annual general assembly.

Umno elections are held every three years, with the last on June 30, 2018.

Umno secretary-general Ahmad Maslan, in announcing the postponement of the party elections on June 30 this year, said it would not be for longer than 18 months.

He also said holding the election would involve 66,287 meetings, with the attendance of 3.3 million Umno members. - Malaysiakini, 6/8/2021

Umno sec-gen: RoS reverses decision declaring party polls postponement invalid

Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan said he was notified by RoS director director-general Jasri Kasim earlier today and was grateful for the decision. ― Picture by Shafwan Zaidon
Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan said he was notified by RoS director director-general Jasri Kasim earlier today and was grateful for the decision. ― Picture by Shafwan Zaidon



KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 30 — The Registrar of Societies (RoS) has reversed its decision to invalidate Umno’s postponement of its party elections that were initially due on June 30.

Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan said he was notified by RoS director director-general Jasri Kasim earlier today and was grateful for the decision.

“Based on the additional information provided to the RoS by Umno’s lawyers on August 9, 11 and 18 as well as testimony from several members of Umno’s supreme council, it was decided that the postponement of Umno’s elections for the term 2021/2023 was done properly.

“As such, the appointment of members to the council, divisions and Umno branches will be postponed until a date before December 29, 2022. However, we must have our annual general meeting and divisional meetings with at least one-quarter quorum by 2021,” he said in a statement tonight.

Umno last held party elections on June 30, 2018, and the three-year term of its party president and other office-bearers would have ended on June 30 this year, requiring a new party election by then.

It postponed party elections by 18 months from June 30 and the validity of this decision was in dispute.

On August 6, the RoS had said this decision was invalid. It cited the July 7 minutes of the party’s supreme council meeting that noted the decision for postponement was made when the supreme council’s term had already expired.

At the time, Ahmad countered this assertion on Twitter with a chronology of events, including his June 24 letter to notify the RoS of the postponement decision. He also shared a July 19 letter from the RoS that it had no objection to said decision.

Among other things, Ahmad’s chronology had stated that he had, as Umno secretary-general, on July 30 written to the RoS director-general about the July 7 minutes of the Umno supreme council meeting that legitimised an earlier June 18 circular resolution among Umno supreme council members to postpone the party polls. - Malay Mail, 30/8/2021

 

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