THE Umno disciplinary board is urged to withdraw its summons to former vice-president Hishammuddin Hussein to attend a hearing for allegedly ignoring orders and breaching the party constitution.

Secretary-general Annuar Musa has conveyed a request for the withdrawal to disciplinary board chairman Mohamed Apandi Ali, a source told The Malaysian Insight.

The source said president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told division chiefs in a WhatsApp group about Annuar’s move to get Hishammuddin’s show-cause letter retracted.

Annuar could not be reached for a response.

The summons to appear before the disciplinary board on December 26 was issued to Hishammuddin after Apandi received complaints about the Sembrong MP.

Apandi did not specify the nature of the complaints, but they followed reports of Umno members’ unhappiness at Hishammuddin’s move to lead some two dozen MPs from the party at a meeting at PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali’s house last month.

One party leader who lodged a complaint was Supreme Council member Lokman Noor Adam, who alleged that Hishammuddin was trying to get Umno lawmakers to support Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Azmin.

In the summons, Hishammuddin is also asked to provide a written explanation to claims that he breached the party charter.

The source said Zahid considered the matter “settled”, as indicated in his winding-up speech at the Umno general assembly two weekends ago.

He told delegates not to believe reports and social media allegations on the issue, and that they should not pay heed to rumours that some Barisan Nasional MPs were in talks with other parties to form a “back-door government”.

Zahid stressed that Umno would form a government only through the “front door”, or elections. – December 16, 2019.