Tuesday September 2, 2008

Punches and chairs thrown at Felda Umno branch meet

By MEERA VIJAYAN

(The Star) SEGAMAT: A fight broke out at the Felda Palong Timur 5 Umno branch meeting after several members claimed they were unhappy with the results of the nominations.

Punches were traded and chairs thrown during the commotion at 6pm on Saturday.

It is learnt that when the votes for the division chief post was tallied, incumbent Datuk Othman Jais lost to newcomer Shaifuddin Ali Hanafiah.

Othman, 61, in his sixth term, is the longest-serving state assemblyman in Johor.

Branch chief Poninan Panijo said Othman’s supporters were unhappy with the results and demanded that members cast their votes again.

“It was also agreed that after voting, all those who cast their votes for Othman would leave the hall,” he said.

At the end of the voting, it was found that only 28 people left the hall, leading to Shaifuddin’s victory once again, which sparked off the fight after a war of words.

Poninan said that in the fight, punches and harsh words were exchanged.

“The legs of several chairs were also broken,” he said.

He added that at the end of the fight, Othman, who is the Segamat division chief, instructed that the branch elections be valid, but the division post elections would be cancelled.

Shaifuddin, 47, a former Segamat Umno Youth chief, already has eight nominations in hand, and needs the nominations from this branch to be able to contest for the division chief post.

When contacted, Othman denied that there had been a fight and said only an argument had ensued when several voters who had allegedly not paid their membership fees voted.

The police confirmed that no police report had been lodged over the incident.

It was the second rowdy Umno meeting in the past few days. On Friday, rotten eggs were thrown during the Sungai Machang Hilir branch meeting near Seremban.

The meeting became unruly after a group of members started to protest against some financial statements, loss of membership forms and delays in sending out the notices for the meeting.

This is also the second time a fight has broken out during Umno branch meetings in Johor in the past month.

On Aug 3, the Sedili Kecil Umno branch meeting erupted into a war of words between a supporter of Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar and a supporter of Daing A. Malik Daing A. Rahman, who is vying for the position of Kota Tinggi division chief