UMNO DIVISIONAL MEETINGS: Scuffle mars Rantau Panjang meeting 2008/10/18

RANTAU PANJANG: Police were called in to control the Rantau Panjang Umno Youth delegates' meeting after some of the members turned rowdy yesterday. The meeting was held up for almost an hour after delegates protested the changes made to the list of representatives to the meeting.

The meeting at a hall in Sekolah Kebangsaan Sri Kiambang in Repek, here, started smoothly with opening speeches by division Youth chief Mohd Affandi Yusoff and acting division chief Abdullah Mat Yasim.However, it became tense after a delegate stood up and started questioning permanent chairman Nordin Ibrahim over the changes made to the delegates' list from the branches.

Following a heated exchange, some of the members stood up and started shouting at Nordin and hurling verbal abuse at the members of the Youth executive council.Nordin had earlier said the changes were made according to procedure and had been approved by the state Umno's election monitoring committee.

When executive council member Mohamad Che'I, took the stand to propose for the meeting to be postponed, a member went up to Nordin's table and grabbed the two microphones. A scuffle broke out when Nordin tried to get the microphones back.Nordin then called for security and a seven-member Light Strike Force team entered the hall to control the crowd.

The meeting resumed under the watch of the police team .When met later, Affandi said they had expected trouble following the recent suspension of four senior leaders from the division, including division head Datuk Mohd Zin Ismail, for three years by the party's central disciplinary committee.

"We requested and received approval for the meeting to be held at the state Umno headquarters in Kota Baru but we were later told that it must be held in our division."

RANTAU PANJANG, Oct 17 (Bernama) -- The Rantau Panjang Umno Youth annual meeting turned unruly today after a group of individuals claimed that several of the 461 delegates were phantom members. The individuals started shouting and voicing their dissatisfaction soon after the meeting began at 9.30 am at the Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Kiambang here and continued to do so for about an hour until a light strike force of the Pasir Mas police headquarters was summoned to calm them down.

The meeting resumed after the Friday prayers.At the outset of the meeting, permanent chairman Nordin Ibrahim announced that 461 delegates from 144 branches were eligible to vote but delegate Suhaimi Che Hussin, head of the Taman Seri Umno Branch, pointed out that there could be phantom members among the delegates. He said he based his assumption on the fact that there had been protests against yet-to-be concluded branch meetings such as that of the Tepi Sungai Branch.

Rantau Panjang Umno Youth head Affendi Yusof tried to pacify the protestors by explaining that the number of delegates had been verified by the Kelantan Umno Election and Monitoring Committee.He said he had expected the fracas as he had knowledge of the strategy by the individuals to cause trouble at the meeting."I had expected this, especially after four members of the Rantau Panjang Umno were suspended," he said.

Rantau Panjang Umno division head Abdullah Mat Yasin, when approached later, said the fracas was sparked by a misunderstanding as some members had not known that their branches had changed the delegates."Some branches had to hold their meetings a second time, conducted by the monitoring committee," he told reporters.

Abdullah also said he believed that supporters of the former Rantau Panjang Umno Division head, Datuk Mohd Zain Ismail, could be unhappy with his suspension by the Umno Disciplinary Board.Mohd Zain and three others -- Ghazali Ismail, Fauzi Omar and Pauziah Che Wook (Rantau Panjang Wanita Umno head) -- were among nine Umno members suspended last month.-- BERNAMA