The high tea function with former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad have sold like hot cakes, with the organisers running out of tickets just three days after it was made public.

The gala event is being organised by the Pusat Bandar Taman Cempaka Umno branch, much to the chagrin of the party's central leadership, with Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor warning against sowing discord.

The branch's chief Syed Saifuddin Syed Harman (photo) said the organiser has had to print additional tickets to cater for the high demand to hear Mahathir speak.

Syed Saifuddin (photo) said while the tables were sold out, the additional tickets printed, which are not inclusive of food and drinks, are aimed at those who are interested to hear Mahathir speak.

"The ticket for the tables have been sold out, but we are printing additional tickets as we believe more people will turn up on that day," he said.

The high tea, themed ' Kembalikan maruah perjuangan bangsa ' (Restore the dignity of our race's struggle) is slated to take place at De Palma Hotel in Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, tomorrow.

The event is similar to the one held by the same Umno branch for Mahathir in 2008, when he was on a warpath with then prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Held at the same venue, the high-tea event then was titled 'Fikir-fikirlah' (Think about it) and was aimed at pressuring Abdullah, better known as Pak Lah, to step down as Umno president and prime minister.

'New, better leadership'

Syed Saifuddin said at that time, some 1,200 people turned up at Hotel De Palma to hear Mahathir speak.

In the run-up to that event, several mysterious anti-Abdullah banners also appeared in the vicinity, which were attributed to anonymous Umno supporters.

"In 2008, Pak Lah's leadership was being questioned, as it is now with the case of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

"At that time, the majority of Malaysians and Umno members were dissatisfied with Pak Lah's credibility as a leader.

"So our branch took the initiative to call Mahathir to speak on current issues and to give explanation. Shortly after that, Pak Lah (photo) stepped down," Syed Saifuddin said.

However, he denied that the high tea event this time around is to pressure Najib to step down or to pit Umno leaders against one another.

He said it is instead geared towards giving "aspiration to the rakyat to get a new and better leadership".