UMNO Election Committee has no power to amend code of ethics - Tajol Rosli

Committee chairman, Tan Sri Tajol Rosli Ghazali said the committee was only carrying its responsibilities as stipulated in the party constitution.

He was responding to media reports on several party election candidates voicing dissatisfaction over the Code of Ethics which they said curtailed their freedom to campaign and urged the committee to relax the rules a bit.

"The (UMNO) Election Committee and Disciplinary Board have no power in this matter....we only conveyed what is contained in the Code of Ethics with regard to campaigning.

"The Code of Ethics was approved by the supreme council which has the power to amend it from time to time. If there are supreme council members who have issued statements (on their dissatisfaction), I don't know whether they have read it or not," he said.

Tajol Rosli said the committee did not intend to suggest to the supreme council to amend the Code of Ethics as the latter's decision was final and should be adhered to.

He reminded candidates contesting in the upcoming party election to be careful when campaigning as they were bound by the rules and if there were complaints of violations, action could be taken against them.

Elaborating, UMNO executive secretary Datuk Ab Rauf Yusoh said the party Election Committee was only involved in the election process while the power to take action was vested in the Disciplinary Board.

"Many press reports stated that the Election Committee was not sensitive to the Code of Ethics being too tight, hampering the candidates to campaign, when the power to amend the rules lies with the supreme council," he said.