PUTRAJAYA: Three Umno veterans comprising former ministers, Tun Daim Zainuddin, Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz and Tan Sri Dr Rais Yatim have been dropped as Umno members.
The move against the trio which took effect on Friday was over their support for opposition parties as well as for being critical against Umno.
Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said the party has sent the trio letters informing them that their memberships have been revoked.
He said the action was in line with the provisions contained in the Umno constitution.
“When she (Rafidah) was on the stage with opposition parties, automatically, I directed that the letter be sent to her informing that she was dropped as an Umno member, including Tun Daim and Rais Yatim,” he said.
He was speaking to reporters after monitoring the early voting of police personnel at the Putrajaya police headquarters here today.
Tengku Adnan, who is defending his Putrajaya parliamentary seat in the 14th General Election ( GE14), is being challenged by Zainal Abidin Kidam (PAS) and Datuk Dr Samsu Adabi Mamat (PKR).
“I told them (the trio) that I had looked into the matter and that it was not hearsay. We only sent them the letters after we received the full picture,” he added.
Tengku Adnan said as Umno veterans, they should have known that their party memberships could be revoked when they acted in such amanner.
“Probably, they wanted us to drop them as members so that they can resort to saying all kinds of things against Umno.
“However, remember that without Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN), they and the nation would not be what they are today. Do not be ungrateful,” he said.
Tengku Adnan, who is also BN secretary-general, said trio’s act of supporting the opposition and being critical of the government was saddening.
“When they were with us, all of us supported them … not to say they did not have problems in the past, they had problems.
“Due to the concept of ‘Wala’ (loyal) to leadership, we follow our leader’s directives as well as tabayyun (seeking the truth).
“In the past, they were with us and we corrected it as we were in one congregation. However, today they had left the congregation and are pointing fingers. This is inappropriate and not fair,” he said.