“If it had not, there was no need for an exemption,” he said in a TikTok video.

“The minister had used his powers to absolve an unlawful act and legalised it.”

Earlier today, home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail confirmed that Umno had been granted an exemption under the Societies Act 1966 for the resolution barring contests for its top two posts in the upcoming party elections.

In a statement today, Saifuddin said the exemption was given pursuant to Section 70 of the Act, which empowered the minister to use his discretion to exempt any registered society from all or any of the provisions of the Act.

Referring to Umno’s constitution and meeting rules, Saifuddin said the ministry decided to exempt Umno from compliance with Section 13(1)(c)(iv) of the Act with regards to the additional motion passed.

Section 13(1)(c)(iv) allows the Registrar of Societies (RoS) to cancel the registration of a society if it violates any provision of the Act, any regulations made thereunder, or any of its rules.

Khairy pointed out that Saifuddin’s statement did not identify the violations.

Last month, it was reported that the RoS was investigating a possible violation of the party’s constitution after the motion was approved at its general assembly in January.

The investigation came about after two Umno members lodged a report with RoS claiming that the tabling of the motion at the general assembly had breached Article 10 of the party’s constitution.

They insisted that the motion had to be tabled two weeks before the general assembly, or seven days if tabled by the Supreme Council.

Khairy, who had previously spoken out against the motion, claimed that delegates were “imported” to help “bulldoze” the motion at the general assembly. The allegations were later denied by Umno secretary-general Ahmad Maslan.

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