A set of guidelines will be issued to delegates taking part in next week's Umno general assembly to steer them away from sensitive issues that may hurt the feelings of other races.

Being race-based political parties, delegates of BN component parties cannot avoid raising the concerns of their respective parties, Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said today.

NONE"All of us are race-based parties. We know what was said in the AGMs of MCA, MIC, PPP and Gerakan... but but why is the focus always on Umno? Because we are quite open," Tengku Adnan told a briefing for the media at the Umno headquarters in Kuala Lumpur this afternoon.

"This is the political system of Malaysia... We are not dictating to other parties. All policies must form a consensus (of all component parties)."

Tengku Adnan also admitted that airing the live debates of the delegates through pay-TV channel Astro in 2006 was a mistake that had created problems.

This year, therefore, a party vice-president, Hishammuddin Hussein, would brief the debaters before they addressed the delegates.

"We will face the (coming) general election... vice-president Hishammuddin has been directed to talk to the debaters," he said.

To a question from Malaysiakini after the briefing, Tengku Adnan confirmed that guidelines would be issued to the delegates, but there would be no restrictions on their speeches.

He stressed that members of the public should put their focus on party president Najib Abdul Razak's policy speech and on the winding-up speeches of the Umno leadership, for these would form the official stand of the party.

Both sessions will be aired live over selected TV channels.

During the briefing, Tengku Adnan also responded to former Umno president Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s earlier comment that the party was haunted by “infighting and weak leadership”.

“It was a reminder to Umno. We will take into account the opinion of Mahathir... because he is our former president.

“However, under the new leadership of Najib, many matters are being improved and addressed by us,” he said, stressing that the party was dealing with “human beings” who were not perfect.

Tengku Adnan also echoed the stand of Najib that Umno must be seen as an umbrella party to all different ethnic groups in the nation.

In his interview with Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia published over the weekend, Mahathir urged Umno to regain the support of Malays by befriending Malay rights groups such as Perkasa.