(The Sun) PUTRAJAYA (April 14, 2008): Johor Umno did not call for party president Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to step down as Prime Minister but would like to know how he would work out the succession plan which he had mentioned before.
Supreme Council member Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said the party is now faced with a very serious situation; therefore, it is important for all party members to work together and ensure a smooth transition of power.
“My interest is to see that the transfer is not done in an upheaval or it will cause Umno to lose power forever and just become a name in history. I would like to see Umno strengthened so that the people who succeed will succeed with the party still in power. You can become president, deputy president, vice-presidents, supreme council members but what is the use if we lose political power in this country?” he said at the National Registration Department (NRD) today.
Speaking to reporters after his first visit to the NRD, Syed Hamid, who is also Home Minister, said Johor Umno people’s representatives had brought up the issue in a meeting with Abdullah on Friday (April 11) and were told he would discuss it with his deputy.
He said they did not intend to force Abdullah to quit but it was Abdullah who brought up the issue of succession plan when he openly named Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak as his successor.
“It is important that we follow what is the custom and tradition within Umno. We never force or bring down our leader,” he said, adding Johor Umno wants a smooth transition to strengthen the party and regain people’s confidence.
He said although some blamed Abdullah or certain people for what had happened to Umno today, he was of the opinion many people are equally to be blamed.
Now is our time to bring back unity within Umno and then the succession is done smoothly. The most important thing is don’t think that you can simply succeed if you just leave something in pieces. We must do it properly. Let’s not rush quickly to say you must come down,” he added.
Asked whether he planned to contest in the party election, Syed Hamid said it did not matter at this point of time.
On the issue of MyKad, he said the government did not plan to make the old identity card invalid even though Malaysians are encouraged to change to MyKad.
“That is your identity. We suggest that you change to the new one, but we are not going to tell you that your IC will be invalid because we cannot do that. We cannot invalidate it because it is legal. It is the status of one’s citizenship,” he said. To date, only 190,000 Malaysians have yet to change to MyKad.
He also reminded Permanent Resident (PR) status holders to change their old IC to MyPR before June as after that, the old IC will no longer be valid.
To date, only 171,344 of the total 376,245 PR status holders have complied.
No comments:
Post a Comment