Friday, August 26, 2022

Umno threatens to sue over reports on party’s internal matters




Umno threatens to sue over reports on party’s internal matters


Umno Youth chief Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki said media companies should quote legitimate sources in their reports instead of unverified insiders.


PETALING JAYA: Umno has threatened to take legal action against two media organisations over “slanderous” reports on the party’s internal affairs.

Umno Youth chief Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki said he had spoken with party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on the matter and discussed with party’s lawyers on the next course of action.


“The two news reports in question are slanderous, irresponsible and unethical,” he said in a Facebook post.

“These media companies should quote legitimate sources rather than simply quoting unverified ‘insiders’,” Asyraf said.

He named Malaysiakini and Astro Awani as the two media companies concerned.


Earlier this week, Astro Awani quoted a source saying a majority of Umno division leaders were against a proposal for Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who is also a party vice-president, to intervene in Najib Razak’s SRC International appeal.

Today, Malaysiakini quoted an Umno and government source as saying Ismail was told to hold the next general election (GE15) soon or he would be sacked from the party.

The report claimed that the prime minister was issued the ultimatum during Umno’s political bureau meeting on Wednesday.


Umno secretary-general Ahmad Maslan told FMT both reports were fake and ill-intentioned. He also denied that party leaders had given Ismail an ultimatum, describing the report as “slander of the highest order”.

Meanwhile, Zahid was reported to have called for all division leaders to attend a special briefing tomorrow afternoon at Dewan Merdeka, World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur.

This comes after top party leaders met division heads on Aug 22, with Sungai Besar division chief Jamal Yunos later claiming that 158 of the 191 division leaders are calling for GE15 to be held immediately.

Zahid had also called for calm in the party following the Federal Court’s decision to uphold Najib’s SRC conviction and sentence on Tuesday.


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