Umno today said it regretted that a party branch meeting in Terengganu on Friday degenerated into a brawl between members, forcing police to fire warning shots to restore calm.

The party's secretary-general Khalil Yaakob said the incident at the Pulau Kerangga branch could lead to unhealthy developments and give the impression that Terengganu Umno was weak.

Although it occurred at only one of the 19,000 Umno branches nationwide, it would become the focus of the whole country, he lamented.

"It is enough that in Terengganu it is difficult to get approval for a place to hold the meeting as the PAS state government does not allow places owned by the state government to be used by Umno," he was quoted as saying by Bernama .

Khalil, who is also information minister, said Friday's incident should serve as a lesson to other party branches.

In the incident, a melee erupted between two groups of people when several men tried to grab the microphone from the meeting chairperson.

Four police personnel who were at the scene tried to restore order but were attacked with chairs instead. This led one of the policeman to fire two warning shots.

Several people were detained but were released after having their statements were recorded. The police said they were looking for several other men in connection with the case.

It was reported that the members' discontentment was stoked by the Marang Umno division's decision to cancel the branch meeting held last March 8 as the date was picked without a prior committee meeting.

Despite the cancellation, the branch head held the meeting at a nearby Umno member's house.

The branch's Youth and Wanita wings, unhappy over the move, decided to move an emergency motion and March 15 was fixed as the new date for the branch meeting, after consulting the branch committee.

Meaningless to fight

Meanwhile, Khalil said the permanent chairperson of the branch and Terengganu Umno will be instructed to submit a report on the incident, determine the status of the meeting and fix a new date for the branch to reconvene.

He also reminded Umno members in Terengganu fighting for posts would be meaningless if Umno was to lose the general elections.

The fracas also evoked similar sentiments from Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Abdullah, who is chairperson of the Terengganu Umno liaison body, said yesterday he regretted that the incident took place, adding that it could weaken the party.

"People want them to work together but they decide to quarrel. The state is under PAS administration — how are they going to cooperate to regain it?" he said.

Terengganu fell into the hands of PAS in the 1999 general elections.