Salim told FMT that he was not informed about his suspension beforehand, adding that he had yet to receive any official letter from the party until now.

“No one called me. Then last night I received messages where my friends showed me that my name was listed. I was shocked. What did I do wrong?

“I don’t know what sins I committed. After all that I have sacrificed in the past 35 years (in Umno), it is as though (I committed) some big sin to warrant getting suspended for six years,” he told FMT.

Salim, a one-term MP who was elected in 2018, was not named as a candidate in the 15th general election (GE15).

The Jempol Umno chief was instead replaced by his deputy, Shamshulkahar Deli, who won the seat with a majority of 5,857 votes in a four-cornered contest.

Salim said he campaigned for Shamshulkahar though he could not defend his seat, adding that he persuaded other members to also do so despite them being unhappy about him being dropped for the seat.

He said he will wait for a detailed explanation from the party on his suspension before deciding on his next course of action.

“If they had asked me to come and give a statement or make my defence, then that would have been all right. But I was suddenly punished,” he said.

Aside from Salim, the others who were suspended for six years are Barisan Nasional treasurer-general Hishammuddin Hussein, former Umno information chief Shahril Hamdan and Tebrau Umno leader Maulizan Bujang.

Meanwhile, former Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin and former Selangor Umno chief Noh Omar were sacked from the party.

According to Umno secretary-general Ahmad Maslan, the party made the decision against the six leaders for “breaching party discipline during the 15th general election (GE15)”.