Earlier today, Umno secretary-general Ahmad Maslan confirmed that Annuar Musa and two other division leaders were sacked by the party. (Bernama pic)
PETALING JAYA: Annuar Musa’s sacking is an attempt to stifle democracy in Umno ahead of the party elections next year, according to his former aide.
Tun Faisal Ismail Aziz, Annuar’s former press secretary, said Annuar and the two other division leaders who were sacked had been outspoken against Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and the “new alignment” with Pakatan Harapan (PH).
In a Facebook post, Faisal claimed this showed that Zahid and his faction were afraid about the competition they could face in the Umno polls.
“Their sackings prove that ‘revenge politics’ is taking control of Umno and that the president cannot be criticised.
“This is despite the fact that (Zahid) was proven to have failed (the party) in the recent general election and was one of the reasons why Umno voters and fence-sitters didn’t vote for Barisan Nasional (BN),” he said.
He also claimed Zahid had betrayed the party and their supporters by forcing BN MPs to back Anwar Ibrahim as prime minister and jointly form the government with PH.
Faisal is a former Putrajaya Umno deputy chief and had been suspended from Umno for six years last year.
Earlier today, Umno secretary-general Ahmad Maslan confirmed that Annuar, a former party secretary-general, as well as the Arau and Maran Wanita chiefs, Shamsiah Yasin and Fatimah Kassim, had been sacked. The decision was made at a party Supreme Council meeting last night.
There were reportedly sacked for disparaging the party and supporting its rivals in the recent general election (GE15).
The former communications and multimedia minister, who was labeled as “Bersatu-friendly” by Umno members, was dropped from BN’s GE15 lineup. He had been with the party since 1979.