PUTRAJAYA: The usual “ambush” by journalists to get quotes and comments from Umno leaders during Umno general assemblies will be a thing of the past.
Starting from this year’s assembly beginning today, interview booths where leaders can be interviewed in comfort will be set on Level 4 of the Putra World Trade Centre.
Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said six booths would be set up to give the media access to party leaders.
“We know that the media is doing their job and sometimes, the only opportunity to get stories is to ambush someone.
“But we want to make things easy for journalists so this time, leaders will go to the interview booths to give their comments,” he told The Star yesterday.
This is the second Umno general assembly this year, and the first at which Najib will deliver his speech as prime minister and party president.
The party’s last general assembly was in March, but that was actually the party’s 59th annual general assembly due last Decem-ber which was postponed to accommodate the transition of power from former president Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Meanwhile, chefs at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) are busy preparing five meals a day for 16,000 people expected throughout the four-day assembly.
PWTC chief executive officer Datuk Yaakob Mohammad said breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner and supper were being served for delegates, observers, media personnel, as well as officials from 15 ministries and departments.
“We are expecting nearly 5,000 delegates, 9,000 observers, 800 media personnel, and hundreds of staff from the various ministries,” he told a press conference yesterday.
Yaakob said 1,200 uniformed and non-uniformed security personnel were deployed to maintain order, while 150 general workers were on duty round the clock to maintain cleanliness.
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