Leaders: Dr M’s open letter won’t affect support for Najib

The open letter issued by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to Umno branch members will not affect Kelantan party members’ support for Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak as party president and Prime Minister, said state Umno chief Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.

He said the former premier’s action would not influence the members of the 2,000 Kelantan Umno branches.

“We have not found any branch leader who is not supporting Datuk Seri Najib’s leadership,” he told reporters at a gathering with the Wisma Persekutuan community here yesterday.

In an open letter via his blog on Friday, Dr Mahathir had called for a motion of no confidence to be tabled at the Umno branch meetings against Najib as party president and Prime Minister.

Supreme council member Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid, when asked to comment on Dr Mahathir’s action, said it was wrong as he was no longer an Umno member.

He believed Umno branch members would not be influenced by Dr Mahathir’s action.

Speaking after an event with Kelantan school heads and principals, he said he could not accept Dr Mahathir collaborating with DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang, who all this while had been labelled by Dr Mahathir himself as anti-Malay.

In Klang, another supreme council member, Datuk Irmohizam Ibrahim said party leaders and members would not be influenced by any effort to divide Umno and would stand solidly behind Najib.

“Umno members will uphold the party’s constitution,” he said.

Irmohizam, who is also the Member of Parliament for Kuala Selangor, said that Umno and the government should not be dragged into the political polemics of the Opposition, but new ideas should instead be sought to help the people.