There will be no revolt in Umno or Parliament after Umno backbenchers pledged full support for the Prime Minister and party president, assuring him that none of them would desert the party at the behest of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who quit the party yesterday. During a 40-minute closed-door meeting, which began at 1.20pm today at Parliament House, Datuk Mohamed Aziz (BN-Sri Gading) represented the Umno backbenchers in pledging their support and loyalty to Abdullah, Umno and the government. They also roundly applauded him when he finished speaking at the meeting, which was called by Abdullah.

There are 79 Umno MPs and though there was no register of those who attended, about 70 attended. Conspicuously absent was Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir (BN-Jerlun) who left the House 10 minutes before the morning session ended. He is schedule to give a Press conference at 5.30pm at the Pan-Pacific Hotel in Kuala Lumpur to state his stand.

However, there were also other Umno MPs who did not attend, like Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamad (BN-Pulai) who claimed he was not informed of the meeting. Among the Umno top leaders who did not attended were Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, now in Egypt and Minister of International Trade and Industry, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is away in the United States attending a trade meeting.

Dr Mahathir shocked Umno leaders and members yesterday when he announced that he was resigning from the party and would only rejoin when Abdullah stepped down as party president, chairman of Barisan Nasional and prime minister.

Dr Mahathir claimed that he was forced to resign because Abdullah failed to take responsibility and quit for BN’s poor showing at the March 8 general election.

The Umno MPs also called on the Prime Minister to set up a Umno backbenchers grouping – the Umno backbenchers of Parliament Group - to be helmed by Datuk Anifah Aman (BN-Kimanis).

Abdullah, when leaving the meeting, declined to state what transpired but MPs met after the meeting described the mood as cordial.

"Tun Dr Mahathir was mentioned by the Prime Minister. He spoke for about five minutes and that was all that was said about him," said Datuk Razali Ibrahim (BN-Muar).

Razali said Abdullah had called the meeting to find out how Umno MPs felt about Dr Mahathir's decision to quit the party.

He told the MPs that the party was bigger than any individual and had to continue no matter what happened.

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"Umno is the property of the Malays.
We will continue to be in the party and
support the Prime Minister..."

- Syed Hamid Albar

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Razali said Aziz had told Abdullah that none of the Umno MPs were leaving the party and would continue to remain and serve the party and Government.

In disagreeing with Dr Mahathir, Home Minister Datuk Syed Hamid Albar said Umno did not belong to one person.

"Umno is the property of the Malays. We will continue to be in the party and support the Prime Minister. We did not discuss Tun Dr Mahathir in great detail," said Syed Hamid of the meeting which he described as being held in a good atmosphere.

Meanwhile, Anifah said immediately after Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz had proposed his name for the grouping, he indicated to Abdullah that he has not decided if he would accept the nomination to lead the body.

"I need to speak to my friends and I do not want to rush into something. I want to know if I would be able to speak freely," he said.

Anifah had been vocal in his criticism about the way the Federal Government had treated Sabah in socio-economic and political terms when he debated the royal address and indicated that if nothing was done, there would be a mass defection to the opposition.