KOTA KINABALU: Several Umno Kota Kinabalu branches have lodged a report to the Registrar of Societies (RoS) to investigate allegations of membership manipulation.
A spokesperson for 70 branches involving more than 10,000 members, Dr Zulfikar Zulkifli, said the longstanding issue with no clear solution just shows irresponsibility.
“Someone swapped our names to be used for different branches despite having come to a consensus during a committee meeting.
“This is a clear breach of the party’s constitution. For example, there are supposed to be five representatives for the Women’s Wing but only three names were keyed in.
“In some cases, certain members had their names outright dropped from the list.
“How can we make a fair choice for the party’s leadership when simple problems like this are overlooked?
“Going to the RoS is our last resort in seeking justice according to the law,” he told reporters at Wisma MAA on Monday.
Zulfikar said he heard of the exact problem occurred in other branches and wanted the authorities to catch the “criminals” involved.
“We could be just the tip of the iceberg…There are 100 Umno Kota Kinabalu Division branches with over 15,000 members.
“I can say it’s a crime against veteran members. We want a lawful selection process. In doing so, many branches boycotted the (party) polls in July but that’s up to the RoS to decide.
“In May, the Umno central committee came down to talk to with members but we are surprised the supreme council is still mum on the issue,” he said.
However, Zulfikar said their allegiance is firmly rooted in Umno.
“This matter could have been reported much earlier but at least we waited for the six state election campaigns to be over.
“Infighting is never good. It will only hinder progress. We are just exercising our rights according to existing strong and stable policies,” he said.
— Jonathan Nicholas