KUALA LUMPUR – The Umno Supreme Council has rejected a bid by former Pasir Salak party division chief Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman to overturn his suspension.
Umno Supreme Council member Isham Jalil said the matter was among one of several issues discussed during the party’s meeting last night.
“(Tajuddin) has appealed for his suspension to be overturned. However, the Umno Supreme Council meeting earlier decided to deny the application due to disciplinary reasons,” he briefly told reporters after attending the meeting last night.
On September 30 last year, Tajuddin was suspended from Umno, together with the party’s Alor Star division leader Datuk Mohd Yusof Ismail.
The suspension came after Tajuddin was removed from the Umno Supreme Council in June, following his revelations of an internal movement to topple party president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Tajuddin had also been dropped from defending his three-term hold on the Pasir Salak parliamentary seat during the 15th general elections (GE15), with the seat instead going to Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) Jamaluddin Yahya.
Meanwhile, Isham, who is also Umno’s information chief, said that an administrative leader will be appointed for the party’s Arau division to stand in for its sacked chief, Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim.
“This is to allow party members from the division to attend the 2022 Umno general assembly as observers,” he said.
He added that party leaders will discuss the list of candidates for the administrative position soon.
During GE15, Umno axed Shahidan as a candidate, leading to him deciding to vie for the Arau parliamentary seat he had held for five non-consecutive terms under a PN banner.
This then led to his expulsion from Umno on November 7. – The Vibes, January 6, 2023