16 Umno members to challenge sacking in court

PETALING JAYA: The 16 recently sacked Umno members, who sought the intervention of the courts for the dissolution of the party, will file a contempt proceeding to challenge their firing.
Their lawyer, Mohd Haniff Khatri Abdulla, said the action was filed based on the fact that Umno's supreme council had breached Article 10.16 of the party's constitution in delaying its party elections until next year.
The 16 members had filed a legal action against Umno yesterday for withholding party elections for five years. They were subsequently expelled from the party today.
Haniff said Umno's decision to sack them could be seen as interfering with the court proceedings.
"Furthermore, this act of Umno is tantamount to interference with the course of justice, whilst having knowledge of that action, and that the 16 are seeking a stay of all Umno activities and affairs, yet Umno has decided to 'sack' them. A clear and blatant act of contempt," he said in a statement today.
He stated that the expulsion was arbitrary and unjust.
According to Haniff, the court action is still valid as the Registrar of Societies (RoS) was named as its main respondent and their first two demands to the court were made against the RoS, while Umno was named as the second respondent.
Earlier today, Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said he would be issuing termination letters to the 16 Umno dissidents soon.
He also accused the opposition of masterminding this action by the 16 members as a way to discredit Umno before the 14th General Election (GE14) on May 9.
Yesterday, the 16 members, led by Seri Merpati Pandan Indah branch leader Salihudin Ahmad Khalid, filed an application for a judicial review on the extension of time granted by the RoS for Umno to hold its elections next year.
They said the action was against the party's constitution, and want the order to be quashed.
They also want the RoS to investigate Umno for a breach of the party's constitution and another order to suspend the party's activities pending the court case.
In addition to all of that, they seek an order to dissolve Umno on grounds that the party is now "illegal".