“In Negeri Sembilan, the state Umno secretary and divisional secretaries have been instructed to vet and consider applications only from those who have remained loyal to the party and are aligned with its struggles,” he was quoted as saying Sunday.

“The cleansing process previously carried out by the party was aimed at eliminating those who were no longer interested in Umno and believed the party would become weak.”

Since last year, prominent Umno leaders, such as Khairy Jamaluddin, Noh Omar and Isham Jalil, have been given the boot. The party also suspended former minister Hishammuddin Hussein and former information chief Shahril Hamdan.

Jalaluddin, who is also the Negeri Sembilan Umno chief, claimed that some who had been sacked from the party now wish to rejoin after seeing its current state.

He also defended the “cleansing process”, saying that it had not weakened the party, as branches across the state continued to convene meetings as scheduled.

The Jelebu MP said some divisions, including his own, have established new branches to increase the number of party members.

“Umno has gone through various trials and challenges, and faced many problems. The uniqueness of our party is that when faced with problems, we adopted methods to overcome them,” he said.