KUALA LUMPUR: Isham Jalil’s sacking from the Umno supreme council was not because he had criticised the Umno president, says Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

"There is nothing stopping anyone from criticising the Umno President, and there will be no disciplinary action against such criticisms (against me)," said the Umno president, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister.

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"However, when a member’s criticisms insult the party and belittle the party, the Supreme Council decides to sack that member.

"He was not sacked because he criticised me," he added.

He also said Isham's complaint that his sacking was not done through the right channel, as it was not brought before the disciplinary board, was uncalled for.

"The Supreme Council decided to sack Isham. There is no need to bring the case to the disciplinary board as the board will eventually have to bring it to the Supreme Council.

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"The Supreme Council is the highest decision-making body in Umno, and its decisions are final," said Ahmad Zahid.

On Dec 6, Umno Supreme Council decided to sack Isham from the party after it was deemed that the former Umno information chief had "crossed the line" after he had criticised Umno and Ahmad Zahid for its dismal performance in the Kemaman by-election on Dec 2.

Ahmad Zahid said this after officiating the Zetrix and Beitou launch of digital ID and driver's licence services on blockchain on Saturday (Dec 9).

It was a commercial collaboration between Malaysia's MyEG Services Berhad and China's state-owned Guangxi Beitou Innovation Technology Investment Group Co Ltd.

Isham, who had been vocal in criticising Umno for failing to "reform itself as a corrupt party", had stated that he would not be appealing his sacking.