UMNO's no-contest culture must stop - Khairy
KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 (Bernama) -- UMNO Youth Chief Khairy Jamaluddin said he disagreed with the calls for the top posts in UMNO to be uncontested in the coming party elections.
He said such culture should be stopped because it was one of the reasons why people lost faith in the party.
"I think we better stop this nonsense of no-contest...it looked like we don't provide the democratic space for our members.
"We cannot have this no-contest rule anymore in UMNO. You're just sending a bad message to the public," he told reporters when met at Menara Dato' Onn here today.
Earlier, Bukit Katil UMNO division chief Tan Sri Mohd Ali Rustam said the Melaka UMNO had unanimously decided that UMNO's top three posts should not be contested in the upcoming party elections.
Mohd Ali said Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi should hold the President's post, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein should be allowed to hold the Deputy President's post while Khairy should take one of the three Vice-President posts.
Meanwhile, Kinabatangan UMNO Division Chief Datuk Seri Bung Mokhtar Radin echoed Khairy's sentiments, saying that it was time for UMNO to change.
"I think UMNO should change because everybody on the ground have changed. So why should we stop anybody from contesting any posts," he said.
The Registrar of Societies (RoS) has allowed the extension of the UMNO supreme council polls to Apr 19 next year.
-- BERNAMA
