KUALA LUMPUR: Umno is open to calls to get sacked members to return to the party, says its president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

He said the supreme council and disciplinary board had acted professionally in dealing with disciplinary issues involving party members.

"We are open to this suggestion.

"We hope that those who have been sacked or suspended are those who are genuinely party men and not a 'thorn in the flesh'," he said in his winding-up speech at the end of the Umno General Assembly on Saturday (June 10).

There have been calls for the leadership to call back members who were sacked and suspended from the party.

Umno Youth delegate Mohd Kurniawan Naim Moktar said the supreme council should consider welcoming them back as they were still loyal to Umno.

"I believe that there are more out there who have the same opinion as me.

"There were members, who had been suspended or sacked, but have yet to join other parties and are still loyal to our party.

"I asked the supreme council to call them back (into the party)," he said during the debate on the president's policy speech on Saturday (June 10).