President has final say in removing appointed Supreme Council member - Tajuddin

KUALA LUMPUR: Pasir Salak MP Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman has accepted the fact that the president of UMNO has the final say to terminate his service as an appointed UMNO supreme council member.

Tajuddin said though he accepted the decision by UMNO president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, there were questions over why there were no reasons stated in his termination letter.

"I have no issue about this matter as it is his (Zahid) right. But what's curious is that the letter does not state what I've done wrong, but merely congratulated my appointment as Malaysia's envoy to Indonesia and notified me that I had been dropped as a supreme council member.

"So it's no issue, no offence but when he (Zahid) talked to the media, suddenly this thing and that thing crops up," he said at a special media conference here today.

Media outlets reported last Thursday that Tajuddin had been dropped as a supreme council member in a letter dated June 21.

Tajuddin said his termination as supreme council member will not interfere with his duties as envoy and he was now waiting for a new date to receive his letter of appointment from Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah as it had been postponed previously.

When asked if he would continue his political career with UMNO, Tajuddin admitted he loved UMNO as he had spent half a century with the party.

"I have been with UMNO for 50 years, so of course I love the party....from a village boy that's where I started at, so I'll remain with UMNO gratefully," he said.

On Perak PAS's offer of nominating him to contest for a seat under the party at the 15th General Election (GE15), Tajuddin said jokingly that he might consider it.

"Not a bad idea, but I'm not going to join PAS....but if they play rough, I can be tough, I can contest independently but still support UMNO, it's not a problem as I won handsomely in my constituency even when a (political) tsunami hit, my majority increased," he added.

-- BERNAMA