UMNO Supreme Council wants Parliament dissolved soon - Ahmad Maslan

KUALA LUMPUR: The UMNO Supreme Council wants Parliament to be dissolved in the near future to enable the 15th general election (GE15) to be held within this year, party secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan said.

He said this was agreed at the Supreme Council meeting tonight, held after the party's top five leaders, known as the Top 5, met last night.

"Based on this decision, Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob) will present the proposed date of the dissolution (of Parliament) to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong in line with Article 40 (1) of the Federal Constitution," he told a media conference after the meeting concluded at Menara Dato' Onn here.

The meeting was chaired by party president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Also present were deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan and the three vice-presidents - Ismail Sabri, Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid and Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.

Ahmad said the decision was based on UMNO's consistent stance right from the start to return the people's mandate, which had been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic after the Pakatan Harapan government fell.

As such, he said party machinery at every level had been instructed to finalise preparations to enter the dissolution phase until polling day.

"UMNO believes that only by restoring the people's rights to get the mandate can a stable government be established to revive the country, especially in terms of economy which is closely related to the issue of their well-being, in addition to several institutional reform efforts towards better governance of the country," he said.

Ahmad said the Supreme Council also welcomed the Cabinet's decision in ordering law enforcement agencies to immediately carry out further investigation into the possible misconduct by former attorney-general Tommy Thomas and take legal action.

"The meeting also urged that the report by the special task force to investigate the allegations contained in the book titled 'My Story: Justice in the Wilderness' be made public. This is important to restore the image and integrity of the judicial institution and rule of law," he said.

He said UMNO also respected the decree by the Sultan of Johor Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar for the special task force's investigation report on the Batu Putih sovereignty issue to be immediately tabled and made public.

In other developments, the meeting also accepted the resignation of Tan Sri Zulhasnan Rafique as chairman of the UMNO Disciplinary Board and agreed to appoint Datuk Mohd Hafarizam Harun to fill the position.

"UMNO has also sacked Datuk Zaharin Mohd Yasin as a member of UMNO with immediate effect in accordance with Clause 10.6 read together with Clause 5.9 for violating the Ethics of UMNO Members under Clause 20.9 of the UMNO Constitution," he said.

The meeting also took note of the recent meeting between Ahmad Zahid and Pas president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang.

-- BERNAMA