Najib denies Dr Mahathir's allegation of not interfering in judiciary

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has denied allegations by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who claimed the revocation of UMNO’s registration in 1988 as evidence of his non-interference in the country's judiciary.

Supporting his argument, Najib shared what happened that year that caused UMNO to be banned and the new UMNO to be established.

Najib said UMNO held a party election in April 1987 which saw a clash between Dr Mahathir and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah for the party presidency.

At that time, Mahathir had his own team known as 'Team A' while Tengku Razaleigh or Ku Li led the 'Team B'.

“A total of 1,500 delegates voted and Tengku Razaleigh was expected to win after the 1985 recession.

“But after a blackout in the vote counting room, Mahathir instead won with 761 votes, surpassing the 718 votes obtained by Tengku Razaleigh. A difference of 43 votes," said Najib.

Najib also said that Tengku Razaleigh's team claimed that Mahathir won the post with 78 delegates voting from 30 branches that were not registered with the Registrar of Societies Malaysia (JPPM).

Tengku Razaleigh's team said the 78 delegates were not eligible to vote and challenged the UMNO election results in court.

“The court ordered a settlement outside court. However, Tengku Razaleigh's group wants a new election to be held.

"Mahathir, on the other hand, did not want a new election, and the High Court declared UMNO an unlawful society, meaning the 1987 election was void and invalid," he added.

Najib said before the appeal of Tengku Razaleigh's team could be heard, Tun Salleh Abas, who was then president of the Supreme Court, and all Supreme Court Judges were suspended. Salleh was later removed.

"This is the beginning of the collapse of the judicial system.

"Mahathir then formed UMNO Baru and transferred all the assets of the old illegal party and its friendly members to the new UMNO, except Ku Li and his team," he said.

Recently, in a special interview with the FMT portal, Mahathir recalled some court decisions when he became the fourth Prime Minister were not in his favour, especially when the UMNO he led was declared unlawful by the High Court on Feb 4, 1988.

The decision was made after 11 UMNO members sued the party in 1987, demanding that the party's election earlier that year be declared unconstitutional and invalid.

Judge Tan Sri Harun Hashim ruled that UMNO was unlawful based on what Mahathir claimed was "a minor misconduct by a handful of UMNO branches".

Mahathir said Harun could take action against the said branches but chose to declare the whole of UMNO as unlawful, indicating "many court decisions at that time were not in my favour."