UMNO Supreme Council member Annuar Musa has thrown in his hat for the deputy president post in the coming party elections.
“Looking at the party’s latest situation and after discussing with the top leaders, I wish to announce that I would be offering myself to be Umno’s deputy president,” the Ketereh MP and party information chief said in a statement today.
This comes after Umno acting deputy president Hishammuddin Hussein’s announcement that he won’t be contesting for any post.
Hishammuddin, who is former defence minister, is the son of former Umno president and prime minister Hussein Onn, who was in turn the son of the party’s first president and co-founder Onn Jaafar.
He has taken on the duties of the deputy president after his predecessor, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, became the interim president two weeks ago, following the resignation of then party president Najib Razak, who took responsibility for Umno’s losses in GE14.
The Malay party retained only 54 out of the 88 parliamentary seats it won in GE13. The Barisan Nasional coalition it leads did not win enough seats to form the federal government.
The historic loss has floored the 71-year-old party and has triggered some soul-searching within its ranks, with some members wondering if the slate of current leaders has the charisma or ideas to revive the party.
As a result, the party’s polls this year will be the most fiercely fought as every member, from former ministers to the lowest branch members, want a shot at reviving the party.
While some leaders have openly expressed a desire to back a Zahid-Hishammuddin team-up for the top two posts, other senior leaders have already thrown their hats in the ring.
Some divisions have nominated former finance minister and Kelantan prince Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah to contest the presidency, while a former Negri Sembilan menteri besar is reportedly going for the deputy’s post.
– https://www.themalaysianinsight.com
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