KUALA LUMPUR, June 24 — Umno has removed Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman from the party’s supreme council without offering a reason.
According to a letter dated June 21 and leaked online, Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan expressed the party’s gratitude to the Pasir Salak MP for his previous service.
“The president through this letter ends the appointment of [Tajuddin] as a member of Umno’s Supreme Council,” Ahmad said in the letter, referring to Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
The letter included no explanation for the sudden decision but congratulated Tajuddin on his selection as the ambassador-designate to Indonesia.
Tajuddin was named the ambassador to Indonesia by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s government, but has yet to receive his credentials from Yang diPertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah.
The decision to make the controversial MP the nation’s ambassador to Indonesia was greeted with criticism by members of Umno, MPs, former diplomats and the general public.
However, Ismail Sabri previously defended the decision by saying that Tajuddin is “a seasoned and experienced politician”.
The outspoken MP has made headlines for the wrong reasons several times in his political career, and was removed in May last year as the non-executive chairman of Prasarana Malaysia Bhd after he joked during a press conference on a light rail transit (LRT) crash.
