Tanah Merah MP Ikmal Hisham Abdul Aziz also announced his resignation as Umno division chief in the constituency.

According to Sinar Harian, the announcement was made before some 800 Umno members and supporters.

“It is a difficult decision, but one that is needed to save Malays and Islam,” he was quoted as saying by the Malay daily.

In the May 9 election, Ikmal, a second-term MP for Tanah Merah, defeated PAS candidate Johari Mat by some 3,000 votes.

His post in the party will be filled by Tanah Merah Umno deputy chief Mohd Almidi Jaafar.

His exit comes on the heels of an exodus of leaders from Sabah Umno, whose departure on Wednesday effectively crippled the party’s state chapter, established in 1991.

Joining the 36 elected representatives, senators and division heads were former federal minister Salleh Said Keruak and former Dewan Rakyat speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia. Another federal minister, Kimanis MP Anifah Aman, had quit the party in September to become an independent.

Umno won 54 seats in the May 9 general election, which saw the party’s fall from grace after six decades dominating the government.

Several Umno MPs had already quit the party in the wake of the polls defeat, including former trade minister Mustapa Mohamed, former Puteri Umno chief Mas Ermieyati Samsudin who applied to join PPBM this week, and Bagan Serai MP Noor Azmi Ghazali.