Noh Omar resigns as Selangor UMNO Liaison Committee chairman

KUALA LUMPUR: Tan Sri Noh Omar officially announced his resignation as Selangor UMNO Liaison Committee chairman today after losing confidence in UMNO president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s leadership.

Noh said his actions were not because of disappointment that he was dropped as a candidate in the 15th general election (GE15), but the way he was not nominated felt like the party president did not value his contributions in developing Selangor UMNO.

“When he has no faith in me....I want to announce today that I officially resign as Selangor UMNO Liaison Committee chairman not only because the president has no confidence in me, but because I have lost confidence in the president,” he said when met here today after attending the UMNO political bureau meeting at Menara Dato’ Onn.

He said even though he had resigned from this position, he was still an UMNO supreme council member and will attend the meeting, but will no longer attend any more political bureau meetings moving forward.

He said he attended the meeting today to urge Ahmad Zahid to be gracious and step down as UMNO president, the same way Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak did when he lost and allow new leaders to take over.

Meanwhile, Sabah UMNO Liaison Committee chairman Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin said BN’s big loss in GE15 showed that all party leaders need to be responsible for the decisions made during the election as it was a collective decision.

“If you want to resign, then everyone should resign, including me, not only the president,” he said, admitting that the loss was the worst in the history of UMNO and Barisan Nasional (BN).

He said voters had chosen to reject UMNO and BN and the party needed to accept it, but stressed that they would look for other ways to win over voters.

“Every party needs to transform themselves because the scenario this time is different compared with previous elections....in the future it might be different that’s why we need to be pragmatic in determining the direction and our future.

“We need to make sure that UMNO and BN can continue to bring something new to those below us and we will think of the best way to ensure our survival,” he added.

Based on official results released by the Election Commission at 4.30 am today, BN only managed to win 30 seats in GE15.

-- BERNAMA