UMNO Supreme Council member Isham Jalil is set to receive his marching orders from the party after president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi confirmed that a letter of dismissal will be issued to him soon.
“He (Isham) will receive a letter. In the shortest possible time,” Zahid told reporters briefly after officiating at the launch of MyNext programme on technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in Kuala Lumpur today.
The event also saw the signing of a memorandum of understanding on TVET between the Malaysian government, and government-linked companies and private companies in conjunction with the unity government’s first-year celebration at the Bukit Jalil Stadium.
The media had earlier reported Isham confirming that he has not received any letter from Umno regarding his membership status.
He said that he has been merely reported to be fired. “I haven’t received the letter yet... as far as I know they removed me from the Umno Supreme Council’s WhatsApp group,” he was quoted as saying.
Isham was reported to have been ejected from the chat group on Tuesday.
The former Umno information chief was previously elected to the Supreme Council after the party’s election earlier this year.
Umno has also sacked several of its previous leaders including former Selangor Umno chief Tan Sri Noh Omar and former Umno Youth head Khairy Jamaluddin. Both are former ministers.
The party has also suspended several leaders, including former vice-president Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and former vice-president of the youth wing, Shahril Hamdan.
Last month Isham had claimed to be worried that the Umno grassroots would continue to protest against the present government if there is no seriousness in dealing with the case of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to get him released from prison.
“This is especially so with the Umno leadership facing difficulties in convincing party members to support DAP in the unity government,” he had said.
Soon after the general election in November last year, Isham had registered his objection to Barisan Nasional (BN) partnering with another coalition in forming the federal government, reasoning that BN should show respect for the people’s decision in the polls.
He said BN should instead serve as the opposition to check and balance the government.
As it so happened, BN went on to form the unity government with Pakatan Harapan (PH) and coalitions based in Borneo to form the federal government.
Isham’s latest remarks on this issue came earlier this week when he said he would persist with his stance against Zahid as long as the party maintains the decision to be with DAP, a key component of PH.
He said that he would not attend the Umno Supreme Council meeting last Wednesday night as long as it remained status quo.
“This is my second term in the Supreme Council. I can already foresee what he will (Zahid) do in the meeting,” he was reported to have said. – The Vibes, December 8, 2023.
