KUALA LUMPUR: The 14th General Election will take centre stage at Umno’s upcoming annual general assembly in December, said party executive secretary Datuk Ab Rauf Yusoh.
“Assuming the general election is not called within the next three months, this year’s assembly will be geared towards GE14,” he told reporters during a media coordination meeting on Tuesday.
Rauf also said security measures at this year’s 68th Umno general assembly will be tightened to ensure the safety of all delegates.
“Radio-frequency identification (RFID) will be used to automatically verify the authenticity of tags given to delegates, observers and the media.”
This, he said, is aimed at preventing unauthorised individuals from using fake entry tags to attend the assembly.
“In previous years, there were some Datuks and Tan Sris who entered the hall using photocopied tags.”
He also said this year’s general assembly will commemorate the party’s 71st anniversary.
Umno had, in May, marked the anniversary with a mammoth gathering involving 120,000 party members in a show of strength and solidarity.
This year’s annual general assembly, slated to be held from Dec 5 to Dec 9, will be the last major Umno gathering before GE14, which must be held by August 24, 2018.
Last year, a total of 3,247 Umno delegates and 282 political observers from 80 countries attended the assembly.