UMNO AGM POSTPONDED- MALAYSIAKINI

Report from Malaysiakini.com:

The Umno supreme council today decided to postpone its party polls and annual general meeting to March next year to allow for a smooth transfer of power from Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to his deputy.
The meeting, along with party elections, was scheduled to be held in December.




However divisional elections will proceed as scheduled from Oct 9 to Nov 9.

These decisions were made at an hour-long emergency supreme council meeting held this morning at Umno headquarters.

Speaking to reporters later, Abdullah refused to comment if he would defend his president's post at the party polls, saying that he would decide before the division-level meetings on Oct 9 - giving him a window of two weeks to finalise his plans.

"I have not made any decision as far as this particular point is concerned, I intend to do it before the division meetings begin," he said.

"The decision is mine, you can go on guessing. As far as I'm concerned I love the party."

"The postponement of the AGM is to facilitate the transition plan," he added.

Asked by reporters if he would be going on leave soon, Abdullah said: "Am I going on leave?... I have lots of work to do".

Private meeting

His deputy Najib Abdul Razak was also present at the press conference but did not make any comments throughout.

Before the start of the supreme council meeting this morning, Abdullah and Najib had a private 30-minute meeting.

Abdullah's original plan was to hand over power to Najib in June 2010. However he has come under tremendous pressure in recent weeks to bring forward this date, preferably to the middle of next year.

This was the second time this month that the highest decision making body of the party had met. It held its monthly meeting on Sept 18.

Meanwhile party information chief Muhd Muhd Taib told reporters that the decision to postpone the party polls was good for all, "for the president and the party".

He said that all supreme council members welcomed the decision as it helped ease the tension surrounding the party's transition plan. - Malaysiakini

Hmm... Looks like UMNO is trying to buy more time before the turmoil.