THE Umno Supreme Council is only a “caretaker” leadership, the functions of which are limited to administrative matters, the Registrar of Societies (ROS) told Utusan Malaysia in response to a letter from Umno explaining its July 8 decision to defer party polls by 18 months.

Prior to this, the ROS declared the decision invalid because the incumbent Supreme Council’s term of office was to have expired on June 30.

As such, ROS director-general Jasri Kasim told Utusan the council can only play a caretaker or administrative role.

“Due to this caretaker status, (any) policy decisions must be brought to the general assembly first,” he was quoted as saying.

Umno has postponed party elections for the 2018-2021 term twice.

Jasni said the ROS will review Umno’s explanation letter because it did not propose any date for party polls or for its annual general assembly for 2021.

In the letter to the ROS, Umno secretary-general Ahmad Maslan noted that the ROS had actually agreed to the party’s request to postpone its election, which was carried out in accordance with the party constitution.

Ahmad said the ROS approved the postponement in a letter to the party dated July 19.

The ROS’s invalidation of the postponement came after Umno withdrew support for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, adding that the weight of support was such it could bring down the government. – August 10, 2021.