Umno polls to be postponed?

Umno may postpone its party election to next year in order to avoid “havoc”, said its information chief Muhammad Muhd Taib.

At a press conference in his office at the Rural and Regional Development Ministry today, Muhammad described this as a “big possibility”.

“We have received feedback from party leaders of all states and they have asked that the elections be postponed to next year,” he said, explaining that the feedback was obtained after leaders met with Umno president Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

“Almost all divisional and state leaders advised that the party elections be delayed for fear of creating havoc,” said Muhammad.

The Wanita, Puteri and Pemuda wings shared the view, he said.

Party polls were initially slotted for August, but postponement will not breach the party constitution. The delay will, however, fuel speculation of a deepening crisis due to feuding between leaders.

Muhammad was evasive when asked if his term “havoc” was in reference to Gua Musang division leader Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah’s challenge to the leadership.

“Things are blur right now and people cannot see clearly. There is no space to make a rational decision and when this happens, the outcome may be a regrettable one,” said Muhammad.

He also said that the matter would be discussed at the party's supreme council meeting on Thursday.

‘Accept reality’

The agenda will include a post-mortem on the party’s performance following its worst ever performance in the 12th general election.

“We want to know why the outcome was such, and will do everything to build the confidence of the rakyat in Umno again,” Muhammad stressed.

He said the people are not angry with Umno and BN per se, but that there are issues that bother them.

“If they really hate the BN, all states would have been wiped out (lost to the opposition). We have to accept the reality and identify these hidden or root causes,” he said.

Muhammad took office today as the rural and regional development minister, replacing Aziz Shamsuddin who lost the Shah Alam parliamentary seat in the polls on March 8.

The former Selangor menteri besar was reinstated as Selangor Umno chief, following Dr Khir Mohd Toyo’s resignation last Wednesday.

Muhammad said a post-mortem is being held into factors that led to the state falling into the hands of the PKR-DAP-PAS alliance.