Defeat will be good for Umno, says Kadir

The veteran journalist cites recent history in Taiwan, Japan and India.

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KUALA LUMPUR: It is only after it suffers defeat in a general election will Umno likely work towards regaining the prestige it once had, according to veteran journalist A Kadir Jasin.

“Umno can rebuild itself with a new leadership that opens up opportunities to the younger generation, but it will probably do so only if it loses a general election,” he said in an interview with FMT.

“Without a defeat, Umno will remain the way it is. It will be thinking only of what the party needs to do to stay in power instead of what the public really wants.

“The Malays today are adventurous. They now have the courage to stand up and say that they no longer need to stand under one umbrella.”

Kadir said recent history had shown that political parties that had been dominant for too long would degenerate but would rebuild themselves after defeat. He cited the cases of Taiwan’s Kuomintang, Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and India’s Congress Party.

These three parties, he said, chose to heed their wake-up calls and realised that they must fulfil their responsibilities in a democracy.

He said Umno’s reaction to defeat would determine whether or not it could make a comeback.

If Umno could rebuild itself, he added, Malaysia would move closer towards being a democracy with a two-party system.