Umno Supreme Council today sacked Zaid Ibrahim from the party for attending opposition events.
Umno president Abdullah Ahmad Badawi made the announcement at about 11.30pm after chairing the supreme council meeting at party headquarters in Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur.
Abdullah did not give any details of the opposition events that Zaid had attended.
The supreme council meeting started at 8.30pm and Zaid's participation in the opposite camp was among the main agenda for the day.
To a question by reporters, Abdullah said that Zaid had no avenue to appeal against his dismissal.
"Once he has been sacked, there is no opportunity to appeal," said the prime minister during the 10-minute press conference.
Also present at the press conference were his deputy Najib Abdul Razak and party secretary general Tengku Adnan Mansor.
When asked if Zaid had provoked this sort of action from the party by being seen with the opposition, Abdullah said:
"There were wrongdoings by Zaid as he was seen in the company of the opposition leaders. This is something which is against Umno ethics."
Party had no choice
Abdullah said that Umno had no choice but to take that drastic action against Zaid.
"The party must be consistent in these sort of matters," he added.
The former de facto law minister has been toying with the opposition ever since he stepped down from his government post in September over his disapproval of the Internal Security Act.
Last Saturday he made a shocking appearance at the PKR national congress opening. He however had denied that he had joined any of the opposition parties.
"Yes, yes, I am still in Umno. I have not been sacked yet," he had told reporters on Saturday.
And on Friday night, he was seen at the DAP victory dinner in Penang.
Aris Shah still an Umno member
On another matter, Abdullah said that the council also discussed the situation involving Seberang Jaya state assemblyperson Arif Shah Omar Shah who was reportedly being allured by the PKR.
There were also reports of an open tiff between Arif Shah and other state Umno leaders.
PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim also revealed today that he had invited Arif Shah to join PKR, but had not offered him the deputy chief minister 1 post as an enticement, as was widely reported.
Abdullah said that Arif Shah had met him and told him of his intention to remain in Umno.
"He came to meet me yesterday. He explained to me that he has no intention to join another political party.
"He remains as an Umno member and will be an Umno state assemblyperson," said Abdullah.
No candidate yet for Kuala Terengganu
On the forthcoming Kuala Terengganu by-election, Abdullah said that the party has not finalised a candidate for the parliamentary seat.
However he said that the party has ordered its election machinery to be hit the ground for the by-election.
The seat fell vacant following the sudden death of its two-term Umno MP Razali Ismail on Nov 28.
The Election Commission will be meeting on Friday to determine the nomination and polling dates for the by-election which should be held 60 days from today.
PAS has said that it would be placing its candidate for the by-election.
On another matter, Abdullah also said that Najib briefed the council members on the economic situation of the country.
Eurocopter whistleblower suspended
The supreme council at its meeting today also decided to suspend the Petaling Jaya Umno division chief Zahar Hashim for three years with immediate effect.
Zahar had previously been involved in lodging an Anti-Corruption Agency report against Abdullah for abusing his position as the Umno president in the run-up to party polls and nominations.
He was also the person who first raised the alleged discrepancies in the government's tender process for the procurement of a new fleet of helicopters for the armed forces - malaysiakini.com
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