Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (April 23):  Umno’s decision to delay its internal polls reflects the tensions that exist between the party's elite and grassroots, political economist Edmund Terence Gomez said today.

The Universiti Malaya professor said the tensions arose from criticisms against the power abuse at the top of the Umno hierarchy and allegations of corruption in the party.

"Many of these corruption allegations also involve predominantly Malay institutions such as Felda, LTAT (Armed Forced Fund Board) and Lembaga Tabung Haji,” Gomez said at a roundtable discussion on the 14th general election organised by the Centre for Public Policy Studies of the  Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (ASLI).

“So in that sense, postponing the party election before the general election would have been seen as logical for the Prime Minister,” said the political economy lecturer.

"But the problem is if it takes too long to call for the general election, it will put him in a difficult position, because the last party election was held in 2013, which is five years ago.

“It was supposed to be held every three years with an extension of 18 months. They have far exceeded (the extension), so the party members have the right to be upset," he added.

Gomez said money is another factor that makes it difficult for Umno to hold the party election during the general election period.

"One of the core issues about elections in Umno — and they have tried to address it officially by setting up a committee to look into it —  is the abuse of money during elections,” he said.   

“In Umno history, the abuse of money in election has been rampant. They have not been able to curb it although they have talked about it. So in this election we will probably see more of this.

"This is something you do not want to go into especially when the general election is around the corner, when as it is, political financing is already a big debate among the people," he added.

Last Friday, 16 Umno members filed an application in the High Court to have the party suspend its activities for allegedly breaching the party's constitution.

They claimed that the Registrar of Societies’ action in granting Umno an extension until next year to hold its election was against the party constitution.

They said the polls can only be extended by up to 18 months from the last polls, which were held in October 2013.

The court today fixed this Thursday to hear the leave application.

On Saturday, Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said the 16 had been automatically sacked from the party in accordance with Article 20.7 of the party’s constitution for bringing internal issues to court.

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