Umno says may amend constitution again in line with anti-hopping law

Umno has not ruled out the possibility of amending its constitution again to bring it in line with the amendments to the Federal Constitution on anti-party hopping, the party's secretary-general Ahmad Maslan says.

However, he said the matter would be referred to the party’s legal adviser for a decision.

"We will discuss with Umno's legal adviser to see if any clause or article of the party constitution needs to be amended to be consistent with the Federal Constitution amendments.

"In other words, there is a possibility that the Umno constitution may be amended again but we will seek the advice of Umno's legal adviser," he told a press conference after a meeting of the party's Supreme Council in Kuala Lumpur last night.

Last week, the Dewan Rakyat approved amendments to the Federal Constitution to create provisions to prohibit MPs from switching parties.

The Constitution (Amendment) Bill (No. 3) 2022 was passed with a majority of more than two-thirds after the 209 members present voted in support.

Ahmad said last night's meeting, chaired by Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, also decided that there would be no election for posts at any level, including at branch and division delegates meetings, at the coming Umno general assembly.

He said the Supreme Council also set the Umno general assembly for Nov 23 to 26; branch meetings from Aug 15 to Sept 18; Wanita, Youth and Puteri division meetings on Oct 7, 8 and 9; and divisional delegates meetings on Oct 14, 15 and 16.

Ahmad said the council recorded its thanks for the Registrar of Societies’ approval of Umno's constitutional amendments with some changes effective July 29.

"The minor amendments involve not holding an election for 18 months and requiring one election to be held for every general election term effective July 29.

"We have held an election after the 14th general election (GE14), so the next election will be after GE15. (Election) must not be later than six months after GE15," he said, adding that this was what the party had been hoping for, to ensure stability.

The meeting also decided that states under the administration of Barisan Nasional should take steps to amend their state constitution or enactments after the federal law on anti-party hopping is gazetted.