YOURSAY | Umno must change to remain relevant

YOURSAY | ’An unstable component risks sinking entire ruling government.’

Ku Li moots fresh Umno elections to replace party leadership

Kilimanjaro: Does anyone still listen to former Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah? Umno had abandoned him long ago.

The Malays in his Gua Musang have abandoned him. Between the two sides of the scale, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tengku Razaleigh, are each trying to be relevant, but even the Malays have stopped noticing them.

The Malays now have choices and as long as such choices exist, Umno is a thing of the past.

The cruel face of politics metes punishments, severe enough to sometimes bury the party. In Umno's case, its complacency and racist streak brought out the worst.

Today, it is not just about a slippery slope for it to hang on to something. It has burnt the options. What we see are knee-jerk reactions.

Umno's demise started a long time ago, actually from the time of former prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein.

Even though the three major races put their minds and hearts into clasping their hands with a feeling of solidarity to seek independence.

But the best thing that happened was the non-Malays’ acceptance of Tunku Abdul Rahman, Umno and Malays as their big brother.

Today, we are talking about things like "Islam is the religion of the Federation" and special privileges for the Malays, but just imagine what would have happened if the non-Malays had vehemently opposed these.

It may not have been a cakewalk to achieve independence, but there was one big brother figure who made them feel this was their home too and held those hands together with an unwritten promise that this would be a land we all could call home.

It was a very promising start. Today,70-plus-year-old me is cursing Umno for ruining that unique human fellowship relationship.

None of the leaders had the maturity and wisdom that Tunku had. May 13 was what some Malays would call "settling scores" or even bring to the fore the issue of Malays lagging economically.

I would strongly disagree with both. The Constitution, as it was and still is clear on the position of Islam and the Malays.

It is greed for power, abandoning wisdom and seeking wealth in the wrong way and becoming arrogant.

MAT M DIN: Razaleigh's advice is wise and timely.

If we look at the voting pattern of the past state elections, it is found that the new young Malay voters and the middle-class Malays, who are well-educated, in droves, voted for Perikatan Nasional (PN), which they considered the least corrupt party.

It was also reflected in the recent Kedah election where most of the Umno candidates, who were tainted with corruption, got wiped out.

It is proved beyond doubt that they were intolerant of corruption. Umno has to reform.

It is, therefore, imperative for Umno to hold high-level fresh party elections to elect new office bearers.

It has to ensure that the fresh new party office bearers are clean and not tainted with corruption.

It has to make a complete reform and rejuvenate to regain lost Malay support. It has to reject past leaders who were corrupted or tainted with corruption without mercy.

Umno is a strong Malay-based party which has the leadership ability to uphold and defend Malay honour and interests.

PurpleTurtle8618: The main issue is Umno, not DAP or Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim! Umno has to pull up its socks!

Umno is at fault for spending years demonising Anwar and DAP.

To tell the Malays to support them now is something that will take considerable time.

Replacing Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi will not provide an instant cure.

The unity government must show that they are not what the leaders of PN say they are - anti-Malay, anti-Islam and so on.

If that can be shown in a year, the Malay masses will start moving back to Umno.

PN had proved that via former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin, they cannot govern effectively. Anwar has more foresight than anybody else at the moment.

He moves faster than most of the ministers, hence he needs a strong team, which leads to the need for a cabinet reshuffle.

Apanama is back: Razaleigh, what is the point of leadership change in Umno?

The party dismissal performance began way back in 2008 when some states fell to the opposition.

This became more evident 10 years later in 2018 when BN/Umno lost the federal government.

With the results of the 15th general election and recently concluded state election with Umno winning only 19 seats out of 108 seats it contested, it has sealed its fate.

I have only one thing to say - close down Umno. What is there to rejuvenate when the leaders fail to rejuvenate themselves?

The leaders are from the same mould and they will rotate the leadership chair like a musical chair. Just same old, same old. Umno is now in a comatose state.

Mortal Thoughts: BN is now a component of the ruling government. An unstable component party risks sinking the entire ruling government.

Unless the country is now run by a corrupt, ineffective or tyrannical government, no one should jeopardise the stability of the ruling government for their own personal politics.

Instead, everyone should band together to ensure that the country progresses well and face the global headwinds together. Stop the nonsense.

I'm very disappointed by the suggestion of this seasoned politician, even though I'm not a fan of the current leadership of Umno.

PurpleDragon2199: After the sacking of some of the key leaders, do you think Umno can regain the previous support they had?

There are just too many corruption issues linked to Umno. I am not sure if new leadership will be able to reverse the situation.

NC: Razaleigh is a person who only talks but when given the opportunity to lead, he will shy away.

Right now, Umno needs to soldier on with existing generals to avoid any further split.

The warlords are gone and the pretenders like Hishammuddin Hussein are said to be strategising in the dark.

If Umno wants to remain relevant, build from what they have now.

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