KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 6 — Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan clarified that no special Supreme Council meeting took place tonight.

He said Umno will not be making any special announcements today and that party leaders were just having a regular meeting.

“I just want to inform you that, apparently it’s said the Supreme Council has a special meeting tonight, there is none.

“We do have a meeting, we always have meetings, day time we have meeting, evening time we have meeting, night time we have meeting too, discussion on different topics,” Ahmad Maslan said when met by reporters at Menara Dato Onn here.

He added that tonight was just a regular meeting.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob reportedly rushed to the party’s headquarters after meeting the Yang di-Pertuan Agong at Istana Negara earlier today.

While speculations were rife that the audience with the Agong was to discuss about Parliament’s dissolution, Istana Negara had earlier uploaded a photo of the meeting to its official Facebook page, saying that the Agong only received the prime minister for a pre-Cabinet meeting.

The pre-Cabinet meeting is one of His Majesty’s main weekly engagements, where he discusses and shares his opinions with the prime minister regarding matters and issues related to the government.

Ismail Sabri however had said today that matters related to the dissolution of Parliament would only be discussed during his audience with the Agong “if the time permits”.

Umno’s push for a general election this year has been met with criticism from the other political parties as well as Malaysians as memories of last year’s flood emergency across the country remain fresh in their minds.

“I hope press personnel will go home after this because it is really just a normal meeting,” Ahmad Maslan added.

When asked about Ismail Sabri’s presence at the Umno headquarters, Ahmad Maslan said after all, he (Ismail Sabri) is the party’s vice president, therefore there are many discussions here.

“We are also currently conducting several engagement sessions. Prior to this, Mat Hasan (Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan) spoke about engagement sessions for the entire Malaysia…so this is the second engagement session where it is a meeting with divisions.

“For example, Bera is one of the divisions involved with the engagement session, that is the prime minister’s area, and today too, Bagan Datuk which involves the Umno president,” he said adding that Pontian too had its engagement session before this.

He added that if there was anything extraordinary that was happening, it will be conveyed to the media.

Reporters also asked regarding the party’s manifesto, to which Ahmad Maslan said when a general election is near the manifesto would have to be completed.

“Whether the election is soon, election in a month or two, election in two or three months, the manifesto has to be ready,” he said adding that discussions about the manifesto did take place tonight.