Ahead of Rantau polls, Umno leaders told to watch their words
Acting Umno president Mohamad Hassan today cautioned Umno leaders to be careful of what they say, particularly as the party prepares to face another by-election in Rantau.
While stressing that Umno will not issue a gag order against any member or leader, Mohamad, who has formally announced that he will re-contest the Negeri Sembilan state seat, said the leaders themselves should know better than to make remarks detrimental to BN or even the country.
Acting Umno president Mohamad Hassan today cautioned Umno leaders to be careful of what they say, particularly as the party prepares to face another by-election in Rantau.
While stressing that Umno will not issue a gag order against any member or leader, Mohamad, who has formally announced that he will re-contest the Negeri Sembilan state seat, said the leaders themselves should know better than to make remarks detrimental to BN or even the country.
"We do not have any instruction to gag anybody. This is a free country, a democratic country and anybody can say what they want.
"But as a leader, they should know what they want to say. Whether it is detrimental to the party or the country," Mohamad told a press conference after chairing an Umno supreme council meeting at the party's headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today.
"We have never had such kind of instructions or conditions imposed on our members or our leaders.
"But as I said just now, in Rantau be careful. We have to be more careful with what we are saying," he said.
He was asked whether Umno leaders at the meeting today had discussed imposing a gag order on members and leaders who had triggered a backlash against BN with their remarks during past by-election campaigns.
Most recently, BN secretary-general Nazri Abdul Aziz sparked public ire for racially charged remarks made during the Semenyih polls.
While BN had wrested the Semenyih state seat from Harapan with a 1,914-vote majority, MCA-founded think-tank Institute of Strategic Analysis and Policy Research (Insap) blamed both Mohamad and Nazri for the lack of support towards BN from Chinese voters.
Asked for comments on reported rumours that the new close ties between Umno and PAS could lead to a takeover of the Perak state-government, Mohamad once again insisted that his main focus at was the upcoming Rantau by-election.
He said the Umno meeting today had also agreed to set-up a permanent elections department based at its headquarters, an upgrade to its previous practice of activating "war rooms" just before a general election.
The new department will be tasked with carrying out surveys and other necessary studies as part of the party's election preparations.
The by-election for the Rantau state seat in Negeri Sembilan will be held on April 13, with nomination day set for March 30.
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