Umno members across the country have been asked to directly become BN members in the event of the party to be dissolved, said its deputy president Mohamad Hasan.

He said the move to directly become BN members was only temporary while waiting for Umno’s leadership to restore the party.

“In the event of dissolution of Umno, there are four ways to restore the situation to return to normal, and if must, we can turn to BN as our temporary ‘home’. BN (can) take in Umno members directly while the party is being restored,” he said in Malacca today.

He said this in his speech during a meeting between party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Malacca Umno leaders at Kampung Bertam Ulu here.

Meanwhile, Zahid said that he would not dissolve Umno as advised by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“I don’t want to betray Umno members who have been loyal to party’s struggles to defend the fate of the people, but we will stand together with other parties including PAS, in dealing with issues such as rejecting the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Icerd),” he said.

On Friday, Mahathir was reported as saying that he advised Zahid to dissolve Umno as the party was just a registered party and no longer fighting for the interests of race, religion and country.

- Bernama