UMNO Supreme Council member, Hizatul Isham Abdul Jalil, has been appointed the party’s new information chief, effective today, its secretary-general Ahmad Maslan said.

Ahmad, in a post on his Twitter account, said Isham’s appointment was made by party president, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, in accordance with clause 9.6 of the Umno constitution, following the resignation of Shahril Hamdan today.

Meanwhile, Isham, in a Facebook post, said that he was informed of the appointment by Umno deputy president, Mohamad Hasan and Ahmad, after discussions with the party’s top leadership.

“The official letter has been signed by the party leadership. I would like to thank them for the appointment and the party’s trust in me.

“Despite various challenges and trials which we will face together at this time, we must not give up; this responsibility is heavy, even more so when we are in this defeat and hardship,” said the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for the Shah Alam parliamentary seat in the general election.

Isham said reforms needed to be made to the party from within, and he gave his assurance that he will not run away from the struggle and continue to be steadfast.

“That’s why I accept this responsibility and will hold this trust to the best of my ability, even though we don’t have anything anymore,” he said.

In the national polls yesterday, BN suffered the worst defeat in its political history when it won only 30 parliamentary seats, while Pakatan Harapan bagged 82 seats and Perikatan Nasional had 73 seats. – Bernama, November 20, 2022.