IPOH, MALAYSIA - Umno members sharing Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir's views in wanting Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to step down as party president should leave, said Perak Umno Youth chief Zainol Fadzi Paharudin.

In urging the party's management committee to sack Mukhriz, an Umno Youth exco member, for hitting out at Abdullah, Zainol said the Jerlun MP should just leave the party if he was suspicious about the party president.

'We want the committee to sack Mukhriz and not just tell us that they are still investigating this or that,' he said yesterday after a meeting with 22 Perak Umno Youth division chiefs to discuss the matter.

The remaining two Youth divisions - Ipoh Barat and Sungai Siput - were not invited to the meeting because they are acting chiefs.

Zainol, who is also Sungai Manik assemblyman, said Mukhriz was new to Umno Youth and the movement had supported him out of respect for former party president and prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

'But he seems to have put himself at the same level as his father, creating chaos in the party,' Zainol added.

Perak Umno Youth vice-chief Mohd Ali Mansor, who also attended the meeting, said Mukhriz was a 'symbol of rudeness' and the party's image could be jeopardise if action was not taken against him.

He added that Mukhriz had gone overboard with his statements about the party presidency.

'If we were to go back to Dr Mahathir's reign in 1998, we would have been disciplined for questioning the party president,' said Mohd Ali.

Mohd Ali recalled that he had written a letter as Beruas Umno Youth chief to Dr Mahathir, questioning his sacking of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim but he was disciplined for it.

'The incident taught us to respect the position of the president as an institution of the party,' he said