The Umno top leadership seemed to be in the dark with regard to the restrictions imposed on the media for next month’s Umno annual general assembly coverage.

Umno vice-president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor had yet to bring the matter to the Umno supreme council.

“We have no information on it yet,” he said, when asked to comment on the matter at a press conference in Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) today.

Asked on the rumour that screens would not be available at the PWTC for observers, Zahid also said they had yet to be informed of the matter.

Tengku Adnan today said the decision, which is the first of its kind, was because online news portals have the tendency to spin the news.

He also said that he was still considering whether to allow coverage for Umno president Najib Abdul Razak’s opening and closing speeches.

“We will not allow (the press) to wander around. We will not even broadcast what is going on in the halls,” he had said.

Instead of allowing full coverage of the proceedings, Tengku Adnan said Zahid as well as fellow Umno vice-president Hishammuddin Hussein would hold daily press conferences to update on issues that were raised by delegates.

This year’s Umno AGM, to be held from Dec 8 to 12, comes at a time when Najib is facing growing pressure from Umno grassroots.