Parade, hoisting of flag marks opening of 2016 UMNO General Assembly

The opening of 2016 UMNO General Assembly began with a parade and hoisting of the UMNO flag at Plaza Merdeka, the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC), here today.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak who is also UMNO president arrived at 9am with his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor and were received by Wanita UMNO chief Tan Sri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin and Puteri chief Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin.

Donning blue 'Baju Melayu', Datuk Seri Najib was escorted by UMNO vice-president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and UMNO secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor to the special stage to receive the salute from the parade commander Mohamad Akmal Mohd Tajul Ariffin and 150 members of the three UMNO wings.

The UMNO president then hoisted the UMNO flag 'Sang Saka Bangsa' while those present sang the party song 'Bersatu, Bersetia, Berkhidmat'.

Earlier, Khairy was given the honour to head the parade in conjunction with the opening of the general assembly.

The honour was given to Khairy by UMNO in appreciation of him being conferred the rank of Brigadier-General in the Territorial Army effective Jan 14, 2015.

At the ceremony, the theme song of this year's assembly 'Melayu Bersatu' was also sung by a choir group from Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Shah Alam.

After the ceremony, Datuk Seri Najib then moved to Dewan Merdeka to deliver his policy speech and launch the 2016 general assembly.

A total of 2,762 delegates from 191 divisions are attending the three-day general assembly.

-- BERNAMA