Umno supreme council to hold emergency meet

A special Umno supreme council meeting will take place tomorrow morning amidst speculations that the party elections could be postponed to next year and the president might step down earlier than planned.
According to Umno information chief Muhammad Muhammad Taib, all members of the supreme council were informed of the meeting today.
When contacted, he said: "Yes there will be a meeting tomorrow. I just received a call earlier today that a special supreme council meeting will be held tomorrow."
Umno sources told Malaysiakini that the meeting will possibly see further deliberation on party president Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s power transition plan to his deputy Najib Abdul Razak.
Asked to confirm this, Muhammad said he was in the dark about the agenda of the meeting.
"I am in the dark just as you. All I know is I received the phone call and was told to attend the meeting tomorrow morning," he added.
Meanwhile, Najib also confirmed the meeting would be held tomorrow, telling reporters who swamped him with "political questions" to wait another 24 hours for the answers.
The 25-member supreme council is the top decision-making body in Umno, the country’s most powerful political party.
It usually meets on monthly basis and during last week’s meeting, a furore erupted when news leaked that several leaders, aligned to former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, had openly demanded Abdullah’s resignation.
Led by vice-president Muhyiddin Yassin and Youth chief Hishammuddin Hussein, a number of top leaders warned Abdullah that he may not be able to get the minimum 58 nominations needed to defend his presidency.
Umno's 191 divisions begin their annual meetings on Oct 9, when they will also nominate candidates for the top posts.
AGM likely to be postponed
Another hot topic on the agenda is the postponement of party polls to next year to enable Abdullah to remain Umno president and prime minister until the handover.
Defered once before by the party due to the March 8 general elections, the Umno annual general assembly is to take place from Dec 16 to 20.
Party watchers are divided over when the assembly will be postponed to, but most believe it will take place early next year possibly in March rather than June given the groundswell of support for a fast leadership change.
"I suspect that this will also be discussed tomorrow and I believe that the postponement would act as the dateline for Abdullah to step down," said Nazri.


tunku : the outcome will be pak lah will stay till 2010.any other suggestions?