'Assisting the president doesn't mean giving blind support' - Tun Mahathir

He said, if the party president made a wrong policy or move, his deputy and vice presidents have the right to question.

"Of course, the duty of the deputy president and vice presidents is to help the president, but it doesn't mean they should just blindly support him without being able to question or criticise his actions," said the former UMNO president.

"If something is wrong, you don't just ignore it. You have to address it," Dr Mahathir said in his speech during a meeting with Kedah UMNO branch leaders and delegates at Yayasan Islam here today.

The former premier was commenting on the keynote address by UMNO President Datuk Seri Najib Razak at the Merdeka Hall of the Putra World Trade Centre this morning.

In his speech, Najib had explained that the duty of the deputy and vice presidents is to assist the president.

He said, it was enshrined in the UMNO constitution and was the secret formula that had enabled UMNO to be the backbone of the government all these years.