Umno president-elect Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said he has neither asked any candidate vying for the party's vice-presidency to withdraw nor does he support any particular candidate.

"It's possible that you assumed I had advised certain people to withdraw. Not so," he was quoted as saying in a Bernama report today.

"Don't make any assumption or speculation that Pak Lah forced certain people not to contest or to support other people, I have never done such a thing," he told reporters after chairing the Umno supreme council meeting last night.

Abdullah, who is also the prime minister, was commenting on press reports that quoted him as saying it was highly possible that candidates who lose in the contest for the vice-presidency would not be appointed as supreme council members as had been done previously.

Abdullah said this statement should not be misconstrued that he was preventing contests for the vice-presidency posts.

'It's up to them'

He said the supreme council also did not make any decision on this matter yesterday.

On the contrary, he added that the supreme council felt that it was up to the candidates concerned whether to contest or not.

"It was said that many Umno members had been nominated as candidates for the vice-presidents' posts, we did not make any decision that prevented people from contesting this time. As they have received sufficient nominations, (and) they feel like contesting, it's up to them. We did not make any stand to stop them.

"But if they, whoever they may be, feel that they don't want to stand because of certain reasons, it's up to the candidates concerned," he said.

However, Abdullah said, if there were candidates who wanted to withdraw, they must follow the party rules

Eight candidates are expected to contest for the three posts of vice-presidents, including two incumbents Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and former Selangor menteri besar Muhammad Muhd Taib.

Others who received sufficient nominations to contest are Melaka Chief Minister Mohd Ali Rustam, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mustapa Mohamed, Federal Territories Minister Isa Abdul Samad, Pahang Menteri Besar Adnan Yaakob, Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar and Chairperson of the Backbenchers' Club Shahrir Samad.

Muhyiddin, Mohd Ali and Muhammad received the most number of nominations followed by Mustapa, Isa, Adnan, Shahrir and Syed Hamid.

As for the supreme council, besides the 25 who will be elected by the delegates in the September elections, the Umno president has the prerogative to appoint 13 more members including the treasurer, information chief and secretary-general.

Usually, candidates who lose in the contest for the vice-presidents' posts will be appointed to fill the 13 seats.

No slander please

Meanwhile, the premier said candidates for the upcoming Umno polls can make statements to the media as long as it does not contain elements of slander that can humiliate or lead to factionalism in the party.

He advised members to refrain from using the short messaging service (SMS) to humiliate or slander their challengers.

"Although they can hide themselves, such action is not right and should be avoided as it can indirectly tarnish the principles of democracy in the party," he said.

On statements and interviews to the media by some senior leaders seeking re-election, Abdullah said they had done nothing wrong.

"The interviews given were in relation to the history of Umno's struggle, party unity and had no elements of slander or mud slinging," he added.

Abdullah also said the supreme council advised party members who were now flocking to the federal capital, not to campaign and canvass for votes.

He said they should return to their respective areas to carry out their responsibilities there.

"This was not my personal view but that of the supreme council, because in the previous election we had also made the same advice.

"We don't want any problems to arise as it may worsen Umno politics. Such unhealthy developments should be avoided," he added.

He said this would also avoid unnecessary expenditure and wastage of time because there were still two months to go before the election.

Disciplinary action

In a related development, Deputy Prime Minister and Umno deputy president Najib Abdul Razak said disciplinary action was initiated against 29 party members for various offences during the March 21 general election.

"From the 29, 18 were sacked, five were let off with warnings, three were found not guilty while three cases were thrown out," he told reporters after last night's supreme council meeting.

Najib also said the disciplinary committee which convened meetings since July 21, had studied all complaints received.

"Currently, 30 cases are being scrutinised to determine whether to accept the validity of the results or to take disciplinary action against those involved, for breaching procedures during the general election," he said.

He said many more cases would be heard, and all complaints forwarded to the headquarters or received by the management committee would be sent to the disciplinary committee.

Asked if there were anyone from the 29 members who would be contesting for posts in the party elections, he said: "No, but there are leaders in the divisional committee who were warned but not sacked."

He said a monitoring committee had also been formed to identify those going against party ethics.

"We will not reveal the names of those in the committee, but they will become the eyes and ears of the disciplinary committee in five different zones - central, north, east, south and Sabah," he said.