Umno deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin today reminded Umno leaders and members to focus on the upcoming general election and not do anything that could weaken the party.

Muhyiddin, who is also deputy prime minister and BN deputy chairman, said if each and every leader and member understood the party's struggle and the challenges standing in the way ahead of the election, issues that could jeopardise party harmony should be avoided.  

"We want any obstacles to be overcome... because when the election comes, we are fully geared up to face the opposition," he told reporters after opening Kemaman Umno's annual delegates meeting today.

Also present were Terengganu Menteri Besar Ahmad Said, who is also Terengganu Umno and Kemaman Umno chief and Kemaman Umno deputy chief and Youth and Sports Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek.

Muhyiddin also expressed confidence that Umno leaders at the state level would be able to resolve any problems that did not involve the party's constitution, which only can be handled by the top leadership.

"This is a normal thing, not only in Umno, all political parties face problems," he said.

DPM concedes there are internal problems

Muhyiddin said Umno openly admitted it had internal problems because it wanted all members to join forces to resolve them.

"We are not going to hide anything and say everything is okay, this would be cheating ourselves.

"It's better we admit our problems and take steps to resolve them. We do not want a situation where we say everything is OK but when it comes to the crunch we are KOed. The top leadership (in Umno) knows what is going on," he said.

However, he said there were only a few divisions that had problems requiring the intervention of the top leadership, including in the Wanita, Youth and Puteri wings.

Earlier, in his speech, Muhyiddin conveyed Umno president Najib Razak's message that the next general election would be held when there was awareness and sincerity on the part of Umno leaders and members to be truly united.  

- Bernama