LOKMAN Noor Adam today claimed to have been booted from Umno, days after he delivered an angry public tirade aimed at the party president, but his colleagues said the Supreme Council member instead faced the disciplinary board for breaching the party line.

Sabah Umno chief Bung Mokhtar Radin said party leaders decided to refer Lokman to the disciplinary board over his behaviour to party leaders in a meeting today. 

“We did discuss about Lokman… we will leave the matter to the disciplinary board,” said Bung Mokhtar, who is also on the Umno Supreme Council.

In a social media post, Lokman, however, said he had been informed that he was sacked from the party.

Lokman had recently exposed an audio recording of party chief Ahmad Zahid Hamidi urging the party leaders to back Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad if they wanted Umno to survive. In a media statement, Lokman had called Zahid “spineless” and said that he was ashamed to call the man his president.

Lokman is also seen as a constant thorn in the side of the party leadership, having recently berated party leaders for not taking action against senior party member Hishammuddin Hussein for allegedly working closely with Dr Mahathir.

In an immediate reaction to his alleged sacking, Lokman said on Faceook said he accepted the party’s decision while proclaiming his loyalty to Umno.

“I will continue with my struggle for the party to oppose Pakatan Harapan and against those traitors in Umno.

“God willing, when Dato Seri Najib returns as the Umno president, I will apply to become a member.

“What is important is that Zahid’s plan to force the 3.7 million party members to back Dr Mahathir as the chairman of Pakatan Nasional has failed,” he said, referring to the new pact between PH, PAS and Umno that was allegedly being planned.

Bung Mokhtar said that the meeting today did not discuss the possibility of working with Dr Mahathir’s Bersatu to change the political alignment in Putrajaya.

“We did not discuss any cooperation with Dr Mahathir. We only discussed how to strengthen our ties with PAS through Muafakat Nasional.” – February 7, 2020.