With little over a week before the Umno general assembly kicks off, there is still no indication whether former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad will go the ruling party's annual meeting.

"He was invited in his capacity as the former party president, but he has yet to reply whether he would be attending or not," Umno secretary-general Radzi Sheikh Ahmad was quoted as saying in the New Straits Times .

A spokesman from Mahathir's office said no decision had been made yet on his attendance at the assembly.

Umno will hold its four-day general assembly meeting from Nov 13, where the row between Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Mahathir is expected to be the centre of attention.

Mahathir in September made an attempt to be elected as a delegate to the key political meeting representing his home state of Kedah, raising fears in Umno he would use the occasion to attack the government.

However, he suffered a humiliating defeat in the election, placing ninth among 15 candidates vying to be one of the seven delegates sent to the general assembly.

Nevertheless, Mahathir holds special status within Umno as a past leader and he had been invited for the key annual meeting. But he would not be allowed to officially address the delegates.

Latest salvo

In a latest salvo from the former leader, another letter written by him was carried yesterday in a pro-Mahathir website, MyKMU.net , accusing his handpicked successor of seeking to muzzle him.

Mahathir was due to speak at a function organised by an non-governmental organisation in Baling, Kedah, on Friday.

"The police has called the organisers and ordered them to cancel the meeting," lamented Mahathir.

He said that to date 14 invitations for him to speak from various organisations had been cancelled "by Pak Lah's government through Deputy Internal Security Minister Johari Baharom".

"Pak Lah and his family are afraid to allow me to speak because what I have to say is the truth.

"If what I had to say was not true, then it would have been easy for them to disprove me," wrote Mahathir in his latest open letter carried by the Internet.

No personal attacks

Meanwhile, Deputy Premier Najib Razak has warned Umno members of against personal attacks at the general assembly.

Najib said no restriction had been placed on topics for discussion except personal attacks on the party's leadership or individuals.

"The permanent chairman will as usual play his role and remind those who do so to stop," said Najib, also Umno's deputy president.

The chair "will check any attempt to character assassinate anyone," he was quoted as saying by the state Bernama news agency.

Umno members have been shocked and dismayed over the increasingly acrimonious battle between Mahathir and Abdullah, which has also raised fears of party divisions.

"Many people say the assembly will be a tense gathering, but Umno is mature, the delegates are mature. They usually want to see Umno grow stronger," the party's information chief Muhammad Muhammad Taib told Bernama in an interview released today.

"They do not like to see the party in turmoil," he said, adding party members would likely reaffirm support for Abdullah's leadership.