Petaling Jaya (The Star/ANN) - Component parties of Malaysian federal ruling coalition Barisan Nasional (BN) have come up in support of sacking members who sabotage the coalition's candidates in the general election.
The Barisan leaders said that there was no room for disloyal members. They were responding to Muhyiddin Yassin's statement on Saturday that United Malays National Organisation (Umno, the founding member of the BN) would sack saboteurs even if Barisan won the seat in their area.
Yesterday, Muhyiddin Yassin, the Barisan deputy chairman and Umno deputy president, reiterated his call for the other Barisan parties to do likewise.
Barisan secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said sabotage was a serious offence and component parties should not tolerate members who worked against them and Barisan.
He said the 2008 general election served as a "bitter lesson" for Barisan where sabotage was the "root cause" of the coalition's failure to retain two-thirds majority in Parliament.
"Umno will not tolerate disloyal acts and neither should the other component parties. We do not want saboteurs among us," Tengku Adnan said.
Umno vice-president Shafie Apdal said Barisan parties should not tolerate members who betrayed them.
"We need to send a strong message to our members that the offence is serious and warrants sacking," he added.
Malaysian Chinese Association secretary-general Kong Cho Ha said the central committee had announced six months ago that the party would take disciplinary action against those who sabotaged Barisan candidates.
Gerakan president Dr Koh Tsu Koon said the party had sacked members who sabotaged Barisan candidates in previous general elections and would not hesitate to do the same again.
Parti Bersatu Sabah deputy president Dr Maximus Ongkili said the party had in the past suspended or sacked members found guilty of sabotage.
"We view the offence seriously. You must be loyal to your party. Disappointment or frustration is not a reason to sabotage," he said.
Upko president Bernard Dompok said the party would not tolerate sabotage although it had not experienced such a problem before.
Malaysian Indian Congress president G. Palanivel said that sabotage rarely occurred in the party "but if and when it happens, our disciplinary committee will deal with it".
People's Progressive Party president M. Kayveas said the party's disciplinary committee would act immediately if there was any incident of sabotage.
