Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has denied claims that Umno is a party that "belongs" to him and has no free speech or democracy.

This follows criticism of him for barring Umno deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin from officiating the annual general meetings of Wanita, Pemuda and Puteri wings of Umno today, which has created the perception that the party "belongs" to Najib.

"That decision, which was reached by the party's supreme council, was the wish of the wings' chiefs.

"It means that they (wings' chiefs) discussed the matter earlier among their exco members and agreed to forward the proposal to the council," Najib said in a joint interview with TV3 , Utusan Malaysia and New Straits Times .

In their reports today, the two dailies quote Najib as saying that the officiating of the AGMs of the various wings by the party's deputy president was just a convention and not based on the party constitution.

"What we want to prioritise is the message conveyed at the assembly, and that does not mean we are restricting members from having discussions or voicing their opinions," he said.

They want to present a unified leadership through a singular message, Najib added, so that members would not be confused about the party's direction.

This is also very important in light of the upcoming 14th general election, he said.

"The party must be united, strong, clear and solid. It is our wish that the assembly would be seen as an effort to unify and strengthen the party, regardless of the situation."

'I made Umno more open'

Najib also argued that he was the one who amended the party's constitution to "make Umno a more open and democratic party".

The old constitution had required that those who wanted to contest the presidency needed at least 63 nominations from the 191 divisions.

"Imagine the utter difficulty for anyone who wants to contest for the post, to earn the 63 nominations.

"If I had wanted to have an easy way (to retain power), I would have retained the old constitution.

"But I am of the stance that Umno should be more open and democratic," Najib said.

Last night, Muhyiddin held an event at the Sultan Sulaiman Club in Kampung Baru, saying he was barred from speaking at the Umno AGM, which officially opens today.

More than 1,000 people turned up to hear him speak, including former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Umno vice-president Shafie Apdal.