Kinabatangan MP Bung Moktar Radin said he will have no problem explaining “thorny issues” to Umno grassroots members in his constituency when they hold their divisional meeting on Aug 28.

These issues include the US Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuits to confiscate assets linked to 1MDB, the split in Umno and the mass resignation in Sabah Umno.

It is widely believed that Umno leaders will have to explain these crucial issues to the three million party members during divisional meetings nationwide, which will be held between Aug 1 and Sept 15.

"In my area (Kinabatangan), the (grassroots members) don't know what is DOJ. That means they don't care about DOJ's (suits)," said Bung.

"What they want to know is what are the developments I can bring to them.

"This is the beauty of my Kinabatangan: the people here don't want to know all the claims made outside (of their constituency). They want to know what the government of the day can give them," he added.

Bung, who is also Kinabatangan Umno division chief, said 80 percent of his constituency is rural while 20 percent is urban.

The people in the rural constituency are not interested in these issues, he said.

"Yesterday at a function, I explained these matters to them. I will need to explain (again) to the members on Aug 28 (during the Kinabatangan divisional) meeting," he added.

"No problem, we know how to explain," said Bung, who is also an Umno supreme council member.

However, he said he would not touch on the identity of the 'Malaysian Official 1' (MO1) named in the DOJ's court papers.

"(The identity of) MO1 is only a speculation. I don't want to talk about MO1," he said.

On the mass resignation in Tenom, he questioned the exact number of Tenom Umno members who reportedly quit the party last week.

"Everyone said they are members but some are not even members," he said, adding that this might be a political ploy.

"This can happen anytime. In politics, you have no true friends but no permanent enemies either," he said.

"This (resignation) is nothing, but we are still concerned over it," added Bung.

Another mass resignation also took place in the Batu Sapi division following the suspension of former Umno vice-president Shafie Apdal, who eventually quit the party.

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has announced that a new party will be formed in a bid to save Malaysia.