PETALING JAYA: Umno deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (pic) has voiced his regret over the sacking of Datuk Hamidah Osman from the party.
"As a former Umno Wanita division chief, Wanita Umno information chief and Perak state exco, she has served Umno and the Government well," said Muhyiddin in a post on his Facebook page Friday.
He questioned the basis and process of her sacking from the party.
According to Hamidah, accusations levied against her were because she had attended an event with former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who remains an Umno member.
The former Gopeng Umno Wanita chief had received a show-cause letter from the party on Sept 9 for inviting Dr Mahathir to a "Bicara Negarawan" dialogue session in Ipoh, Perak.
On Tuesday, she was stripped of her party membership.
"I want to ask - is attending an event with a former Umno president, which was also attended by many other Umno leaders and members, a disciplinary offence?" asked Muhyiddin.
"If so, then I feel many Umno members have to be stripped of their membership, and Umno will be left as a party that keeps losing members and supporters," he added.
According to Hamidah, she was never summoned by Umno's disciplinary board, a move Muhyiddin found to be contradictory to the spirit and conditions of the party's constitution.
Muhyiddin then questioned if her sacking fulfilled the "due process of law" principle.
"The sacking of a member under Clause 20.9 of the Umno Constitution has to be the last resort, if they committed a big offence which contradicts the Umno Constitution and member ethics," he added.
Some have argued that Umno's Supreme Council can sack a member without them facing the disciplinary board, as per the sacking of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in 1998.
"They do not know history. The disciplinary board was only created after Umno's constitution was amended in 2000, which is two years after Anwar was sacked from the party," said Muhyiddin.
As the person in charge of amendments at the time, Muhyiddin had proposed the creation of a "free" disciplinary board comprised of members with no interests in the party.
"That way, any decision made by the board was even-handed, 'without fear or favour', fair and transparent," he added.
But as a member of the supreme council, Muhyiddin said he realised he was "bound" to decisions it had made.
"It's just my responsibility to voice my opinion about a matter that seems to conflict with the needs of the party Constitution," he added.
