YOUTH-based party Muda suspended its Perak chief Mutalib Uthman for three years, effective yesterday.

Muda secretary-general Amir Hariri Abd Hadi confirmed the matter to The Malaysian Insight, saying the decision was made by the party’s central executive committee (CEC).

“We already informed him verbally about the decision made by the CEC,” Amir said.

“It is only pending the formality of sending the official letter,” he said, adding that the official letter will be sent soon.

Following the decision by the CEC, Amir said the party’s Masjid Tanah candidate for the general election was removed from Muda’s official WhatsApp group.

“The first step we have to take is to remove him from the official WhatsApp group, pending his appeal to the decision made by the CEC,” Amir said.

Amir said the decision to suspend Mutalib came after the latter uploaded a poster on his personal social media account and Perak Muda’s official account to announce his intention to contest for the Tapah parliamentary seat in the general election.

“He was found to have requested access to the official Perak Muda social media account and changed the password, which shows intention to sabotage the party. 

“After contacting him, he also refused to take down the poster that had been uploaded, and only agreed to take it down if he was promised a seat in the general election,” Amir explained. 

Amir said Mutalib’s actions to upload such a poster without the party’s consent violated the party’s regulations, specifically clause 5.1(d) on obeying and respecting the party decisions, and clause 5.1(f) on preserving the good name and dignity of the party. 

Mutalib then contested the Masjid Tanah parliamentary seat, where he lost to incumbent Mas Ermieyati Samsudin of Perikatan Nasional. 

Amir said the CEC was working on having Mutalib contest the Masjid Tanah seat before the latter released the poster. 

The party secretary-general also said the self-defence statement by Mutalib, who said he has been with Muda since day one and helped build the party and thus deserved to run in the general election, was unacceptable. 

Amir said the party has appointed Devadas Silvaraju as acting Perak Muda chairman. 

Attempts to contact Mutalib on the matter were futile.

Previously, during the general election, Mutalib announced that he would be contesting the Tapah parliamentary seat, only for party information chief Luqman Long to rebut his statement.

Mutalib eventually conceded the Tapah parliamentary seat to PKR and apologised for his premature announcement of his candidacy for the seat. – December 28, 2022.