PETALING JAYA: Umno has suspended Putatan MP Datuk Shahelmey Yahya for six years for not toeing the party line during the attempted coup to oust Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor earlier this year.Sabah Umno Chief Bung Moktar Radin confirmed the matter earlier Saturday, Astro Awani reported.
“Well, he has been suspended for six years,” Bung was quoted as saying.
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Shahelmey, who is also the Tanjung Keramat Assemblyman, was among the four Umno assemblymen who decided to back Hajiji after Sabah Umno retracted support for him.
The other three are Arsad Bistari (Tempasuk), Jasnih Daya (Pantai Dalit) and James Ratib (Sugut).
Last month, Shahelmey – who is also the Deputy Chief Minister – said he would leave it to Umno’s disciplinary board to decide on his fate. James and Jasnih have since quit Umno.
Meanwhile, Shahelmey said he is not surprised by the suspension of his Umno membership but says he has not received any official word on the matter from the party.
The Sabah Deputy Chief Minister added that he had been busy with work and had no time to check the news or messages coming in. “But I’ve been expecting this,” said Shahelmey when contacted.
At the same time, he questioned Bung for making the statement over the suspension despite no official statement being released by the party’s Supreme Council.
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He added Sabah Umno secretary Datuk Jafry Ariffin had also said the decision was not yet official and that it was only a recommendation from the Umno disciplinary committee.
“But I accept it with an open heart. And I hope the statement made by Bung Moktar would be considered (the suspension) as official,” he said.
Asked on his next move, Shahelmey briefly said: “On that one, I will inform you all later about it.”
Bung Moktar told reporters earlier in Sandakan on Saturday that Shahelmey’s Umno membership had been suspended for six years.
The Kinabatangan MP said this suspension came after Shahelmey’s refusal to support the state Umno’s decision to withdraw support for Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor in January this year.
Shahelmey was among four Sabah Umno assemblymen issued a show cause letter earlier for reneging on the party’s decision in the political crisis. He had answered to the Umno disciplinary committee on the matter.
The three others were Datuk James Ratib (Sugut), Datuk Jasnih Daya
(Pantai Dalit) and Datuk Hamid Awang (Balung) but they had since left to join Hajiji’s Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (Gagasan Rakyat).
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