Ahead of the Umno elections, the party's secretary-general has urged its grassroots members not to sell their votes or they would end up with leaders who will ignore them.

The root cause of corruption in the party is not Umno itself but some leaders who crave top positions above all else, Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said in an interview.

NONE "If we are willing to sell our votes, we have a price. What will be the outcome?" Tengku Adnan is quoted as saying at www.umno-online.com.my

"For sure, a point will be reached when the people we elect will not care about us and we will just be trash to them because these leaders will say: ‘I have paid up, why do I need to care?'"

Tengku Adnan in the report also praises Umno for being a truly democratic party, as any person could rise and contest for a post in the Umno.

Making a comparison with the Pakatan Rakyat parties, he criticised the opposition for aping the Western style of liberal democracy, which he dubbed "democrazy" or "demokasi."

Meanwhile, Umno Youth head Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar denied talks that Irwan Ambak was his proxy candidate to help split the votes, even though they have family ties.

"I neither encouraged nor asked him to pull out. I left it open," Khairy is quoted as saying by Utusan Malaysia. "However, he must understand that this is a big field and not a small field and it is serious."

Excluding Khairy, four other candidates are fighting for the post of Umno Youth chief, which Khairy has held since 2009.

Irwan is one of the nephews of former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, while Khairy is Abdullah's son-in-law.