Muhkriz Denies Having Said He'll Quit Umno In July

KUALA LUMPUR, May 21 (Bernama) -- Umno Youth Executive Council member Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir Wednesday denied he had stated he would quit Umno in July should Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi not step down as Umno president and prime minister by then.
He said he had only said that he had the right to change his stand at any time according to developments and had also not stated that there was only one way out, and which was to quit the party, when there were many other options.
"I did not say that by July if the prime minister does not step down, then I will quit the party," he told reporters at the lobby of Parliament House, here.
Mukhriz, who is the Member of Parliament for Jerlun, said the reference to July was because of the Umno branch meetings scheduled to begin then and he hoped that a drastic change would take place before the branch meetings begin, and not that he would quit the party.
He had said Tuesday that he would not quit Umno as his father, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, did two days ago because there was much work to be done and his struggle was not for the party alone but for his parliamentary constituency as well.
Umno Youth chief Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein had expressed regret over Mukhriz's statement and said he would refer the matter to the party's management committee.
Mukhriz said he was prepared to face any penalty that would be imposed on him and said he felt that the process he was undergoing now would strengthen Umno Youth.
"I would not have issued any statement if I was not prepared to accept any penalty, including from the management committee," he said, adding that Hishammudin's statement resulted from a misunderstanding over his (Mukhriz's) statement Tuesday.
Mukhriz said he would attend the Umno Youth executive council meeting on Friday, adding that this would not be the first time he would be up against criticism from his colleagues.



tunku : mukhriz never said that he will quit the party in july if pak lah still there,what he said was he will change his stand.well mr hisham keris always jump on mukhriz.i wonder why.by right he had asked mukhriz first before making any statement but no,i'm brave with smaller group but i'm coward with the larger group.that's hishamudin.hisham running for vice president,has he got the quality of it? i don't think so.he is just exco level type not a national leader type.if umno and bn wants to face the enemy they should not have generals like hisham, they will definately lose the battle before it starts.