Umno Youth: Sacrifice ‘greying’ Chinese leaders

The time has come for Chinese-based BN parties to get rid of the 'oldies' and play some new tunes to keep up with DAP, says the Umno wing.

GEORGE TOWN: Penang Umno Youth believes that the time has come for Chinese-based parties in Barisan Nasional to stop playing the oldies, and opt for new tunes to keep up with DAP.

Based on the outcome of the Sarawak polls, the wing’s deputy chief Norman Zahalan said that the old guards must make way for the young turks.

He said the Chinese community was rejecting the present leadership of such parties.

It happened in 2008 where Gerakan and MCA were whipped in Penang as well as Perak and it recurred last week in Sarawak, where SUPP was largely rejected by the Chinese voters, he added.

Norman stressed that even veteran SUPP president George Chan was ousted by a 28-year-old DAP

rookie and lawyer who just completed his chambering tenure with his party chairman Karpal Singh’s law firm in Kuala Lumpur.

Kuching, the Sarawak capital, was now dominated by DAP, he said, adding that in mostly urbanised seats, the opposition party held sway since Umno was focused on PKR and PAS.

‘Look at Guan Eng’s hair’

He said DAP had become a strong political force as it managed to capture the minds of the young who were easily the most impressionable group of voters.

“Look at (Penang) Chief Minister (and DAP secretary-general) Lim Guan Eng, he still has black hair but if we look at his political foes, they are all greying.”

Norman said Umno should remain loyal to MCA, Gerakan and SUPP but the party must convince its BN partners to revamp their line-up and come up with younger and energetic leaders to compete with DAP.

He said Umno had done its part as Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak was relatively younger than his predecessor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Following which, he claimed, there was a sense that the Malay and bumiputera ground had shifted back to BN.

Norman said Gerakan, MCA and SUPP should not take his comments personally, urging them to understand that certain “sacrifices” must be made to remain relevant with the highly demanding Chinese electorate.

In Penang, Norman singled out Gerakan president Koh Tsu Koon and state party chairman Dr Teng Hock Nan, as those who need to consider paving the way for a younger group of leaders.

Some senior Umno leaders shared the views of Norman in private but preferred to remain mum to avoid antagonising their Chinese BN colleagues.