Changing Umno from within

The dissatisfaction in Umno is coming from its bright, intelligent young members who are not willing to sit on the same table with other 'intellectual' leaders.

COMMENT

cccccccccccParallel to the recent goings-on in the Umno general assembly, I met with a group of Umno members who are for change; change from within Umno.

Their cause is to “cleanse and purge Umno of corrupt self-seekers”. Leading this pack of “corrupt self-seekers”, it appears, is allegedly Umno president Najib Tun Razak.

And to accomplish this, the group is willing to sacrifice the power of the Barisan Nasional at the next general election.

I encountered a successful chartered accountant, two lawyers who are not in the business of law, economists, engineers both software and hardware types, managers from industry including some from civil service and one from Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB).

They claimed to have more than 250 professionals in their group, all on the ground and working in teams and looking after districts in various states. These are accomplished young Malays who are also academically proficient.

In fact, one of them said: “You’ll not see me sitting on the same table with him…” The “him” was Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin.

The reference was made after he was asked why this group did not attempt to engage “intellectual” Khairy to support their cause, which they said is to “cleanse and purge” Umno.

Apparently engaging “intellectual’ Khairy is seen with amusement.

Anyway, this Johor Umno group seems to hold sway over members in certain key states, many of whom are academically accomplished and from local and foreign universities.

This group has also identified who must not be returned to Parliament. While they are confident that Barisan Nasional will win, they also see a huge reduction in the Umno seats.

But they are prepared and not too worried about the BN losing control.

They seemed to want it that way. They believe it will help to pave the way for what they call a “cleansed Umno”.

‘They have lied to us’

One of them who identified himself as Daud said: “Very honestly, we do not mind losing this time around; we know we can win the next time but that is only after we purge this party.”

“It [party] requires to be cleansed totally even if that takes 20 years; we need to cleanse the party, not ‘reform the party’ as they say; it’s all just pulling wool over our eyes.”

“If it [party] is not cleansed, it is only a matter of time before we go this route again and the grassroots must understand the consequences of what is really happening.

“The grassroots must see the potential outcomes after it is cleansed, and they will follow us; they have been lied to once too often by a party they trust, a party of self-seekers.”

Now that is how serious this group is.

Is the ring of fire being laid around Najib now coincidental? Is it something planned by Umno to rid itself of a man it sees as “a huge liability to the party, race and country,” one Johor Umno member asked.

In which case, will Najib make it, given the seriousness of this young group in Umno?

“Yes, of course he will win Pekan, unless they [opposition] give him a really tough candidate but he will lose the battle,” that was the opinion of this young group.

This group claimed that it had the support of the grassroots and is willing to “korban” to “serve our race, our country and our king”.

“We have the backing of the grassroots; remember we are working hard, we are making sacrifices, some of us sleep in our cars when we go around; we went to the ground to buka puasa, the people did not have to clean their houses and serve their best to us, we took food along too.

“We have our people at division and branch levels, the new members are young, we are recruiting new members too, the young are like us, we are seen as vibrant and more relevant with the times, we do not clamour for power.

“We are Islam, we are here to serve, we hunger to serve our race, our country and king…”

“We ask for nothing in return, we do not want to be rich through politics, we want the Malays to progress and become rich, we want Malaysians to become rich and ours is a sacrifice we call it ‘korban’. We ask only that you report fairly, so people will look at us and judge Umno correctly sometime soon,” said the group.

Toffee Rozario is a businessman who spends his free time writing to create awareness. He blogs at Toffee’s Turn.