The Umno general assembly may not be telecast live in future, according to Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak today.

He said the Umno supreme council was looking seriously into the wisdom of having the entire proceedings telecast live after many people felt the move was not appropriate because they got distorted views.

"Yes, there were several speeches which can be regarded as extremist but we cannot assume that one or two speeches reflect Umno's stand," he was quoted as saying by Bernama.

Several Barisan Nasional (BN) component leaders were reported to have expressed unease over the emotional speeches by some of the delegates at the five-day assembly which ended last Friday.

For the first time in history, the entire proceedings were telecast live on the Astro satellite television channel. Previously, only the opening and closing speeches of the top leaders were shown live.

Najib, who is also Umno deputy president, said members should have abided by party president Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's speech which reminded them that Umno was a party which led all races in the country and that Umno held strongly to the principle of power sharing and consensus in BN.

"As long as the BN consensus is still our thrust, the BN components should not worry that we will implement extremist policies that can affect the interests of any race," he said.

On the fate of Umno Youth exco member Mukhriz Mahathir who had criticised the presidential speech for not offering anything new, he said it was up to the movement.

Mukhriz's statement had drawn severe criticism from Umno Youth because it went against the movement's stand which supported the party president and prime minister.

Mukhriz, who is the son of former party president Dr Mahathir Mohamad, said that Abdullah should take concrete action to curb corruption and not dish out mere rhetoric.

Inviting polemics

In a related development, Information Minister Zahid Hamidi considers Gerakan president Dr Lim Keng Yaik's dissatisfaction with the language used by some Umno delegates as inviting polemics among the communities.

"Umno spokesmen will not say anything if Gerakan or other parties, representing the Chinese community, do not raise the social contract and Malay special rights issues," he said.

Lim Saturday expressed his dissatisfaction with the tone of language used by the Umno delegates when debating at the assembly.

He said that the delegates should have not attacked or offended other races when expressing their opinions on the interest of a community.

In line with this, Lim wanted Gerakan to prepare debate guidelines for the party's national delegates conference next year to avoid stepping on the toes of other races.

Reiterating the prime minister's reminder that the feelings of the Malays must not be hurt, Zahid said if this line was crossed, then the reactions, as expressed by several Umno leaders during the assembly, would emerge.

"I urge all leaders of BN component parties to be mindful of the sensitivity surrounding the Malay issues, and not to dispute the social contract that had been agreed by previous leaders," he said.

Zahid, who is also an Umno supreme council member, said the prime minister's message at the assembly, reminding members not to be extremists, must be followed by all Malaysians.

The friendship and consensus spirit in BN must be defended, and no one should voice opinions that could bring conflicts, he said.

Zahid said he hoped Abdullah as the BN chairman would immediately explain all the issues raised by Umno to BN leaders to prevent any misunderstanding.