Tengku Adnan ill-informed on rules, says Mustaffa

KOTA BARU: A former Umno executive secretary has chided party secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor for being ill-informed on party rules.
Datuk Mustaffa Mat Yasin, the Batu Bor Umno branch head in the Bera division (Pahang), claimed that Tengku Adnan had over-reacted over branches resolutions, when he described them as nominations for candidates.
He said during the on-going branch-level annual general meetings and election of office bearers, they can only pass resolutions under Article 17.5.1. of the party constitution.
There is no such thing as branches nominating candidates for national posts, Mustaffa said in an interview. Such nominations can only be made at divisional level.
Instead, Mustaffa said he is witnessing an unprecedented number of top party leaders misinterpreting and over-reacting to branch resolutions, which in turn has confused members.
“The branches have a right to decide who they want and what form of proposals they want included in their resolutions. They can make nominations but only for candidates contesting the divisional posts from which their branches hail. They can only hope that the resolutions on their preferred candidates for the national posts are tabled and subsequently passed at the divisional levels.”
In a related development, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah’s personal officer Lukman Ghani said the Gua Musang Umno division head is disappointed with some division heads who tried to pre-empt the branch AGMs by declaring themselves ready to step down if the branches nominated anyone other than the incumbents.
Tengku Razaleigh remains the only one in Umno now who has openly offered to stand against Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Lukman said Tengku Razaleigh is garnering momentum, as to date, more than 300 branches in 50 divisions, have passed resolutions indicating their support for him to contest the president's post, unlike in the party election in 2004.
He claims that the grassroots are edgy over what is transpiring in Umno and are clamouring for change.

tunku : that is the worst part, only the divisions can nominate for the national post. it will be easier to handle divisions than branches. get hold of the top people in a division , you'll definitely get the nomination. we hope that all the umno members will follow their divisions meeting closely.