"Umno 11" Did Not Seek To Declare Party Unlawful Claim - Bernama

KUALA LUMPUR, April 19 (Bernama) -- The so- called "Umno 11" group Saturday claimed that it did not seek to have Umno declared unlawful in 1988 as it had been so accused by certain quarters.

One of its members, Abdul Rahim Abdul Rahman, who claimed to represent the group, said all 11 of them only sought to have the party conduct its elections again because several delegates to the April 1987 general assembly came from unregistered branches of the party.

He spoke at a news conference to clarify a newspaper report that the group's claim was granted by then High Court judge Datuk Harun Hashim and the outcome was the declaration of Umno as unlawful because it had unregistered branches.

Abdul Rahim said the group took the matter to court because its appeal within Umno following the party elections was not entertained.

He claimed that the newspaper was factually wrong when it reported that "Umno 11" had sought to have Umno declared unlawful after the court found that the party had some unregistered branches.

"That statement is wrong because the fact is that it was a request by the Umno group including myself that we, Umno members, seek a court declaration that the general assembly was null and void. There was nothing in our petition to have Umno declared unlawful or anything associated with banning Umno.

"For 20 years or two decades, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the Umno secretary-general then Tan Sri Sanusi Junid and others had accused us Umno 11 as those responsible for having Umno declared unlawful," he said.

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