Tomorrow, Umno will decide on its next president.
The victor, unlike his seven predecessors, will be entrusted with the unenviable task of navigating the reported three million members through the unchartered waters, which Umno found itself stranded in following the May 9 general election.
Recognising the arduous quest ahead, Umno's former president Najib Abdul Razak stressed that his successor must be someone who is able to regain the confidence of party members and Malaysians.
"This is an opportunity for us to regain the trust, so the person must be someone who can do that so that Umno can emerge as a stronger party," he told Malaysiakini in an exclusive interview.
The former premier, who resigned as Umno president and handed the reins to his deputy Ahmad Zahid Hamidi after the general election, said whoever is elected must also continue Umno's struggle.
"I handed the party over to Zahid. I am confident he or whoever is voted president this weekend can continue the Umno struggle and help Umno regain the trust of the people,” he added.
As Umno, which still remains the largest party with 52 parliament seats, struggles to reposition itself in the current political landscape, there are differing opinions on how this should be done.
There appear to be two camps - pro-multiculturalism and the old guards who insist on sticking to the old formula.
However, Najib does not believe the presidential race would divide Umno.
"I do not think there are splits, Umno will not go through a split like in 1987.
"I believe anyone who wins, those who lost will accept the results and those who win must also accept the losers," he said.
Asked if he felt disappointed that certain Umno leaders have openly blamed him for the defeat in the national polls, he replied that it was something expected.
'I reformed Umno'
Najib also recalled how he had reformed Umno after taking over the leadership reins from Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in 2009.
He noted how during the time of his predecessors, including Dr Mahathir Mohamad, a contender required 56 divisions to nominate him before he could contest.
Najib said this made it near impossible to mount a challenge against the incumbent.
“Under the previous system, he (Mahathir) could remain as president of the party forever and ever, and I could remain (forever) if I chose that system.
"I am the one who made it (Umno) more open. So I abolished (that system), and now today, 160,000 people participate in an open election. I was the first Umno president to be elected through that system.
"Unfortunately I have not been given a lot of credit for this," he added.
Najib also said he had steered Umno towards moderation during his tenure as president and recalled his 1Malaysia brainchild.
"As president, I steered Umno to become a moderate and progressive party.
"The concept of 1Malaysia is to show that even though we have Umno and Umno is about Malay and bumiputera, we also make sure that our policies are fair to the others," he said, pointing to the Malaysian Indian Blueprint (MIB) and efforts to preserve Chinese vernacular schools under his administration.
Najib also said he pushed ahead with the 1Malaysia concept despite Mahathir objecting to it.
He said Mahathir was one of the fiercest opponents of the 1Malaysia idea at that time as the latter was on the Perkasa platform.
"These were things I did and there was no major racial strife or confrontations during my time of major consequences," he added.
When Malaysiakini raised the issue of Sungai Besar Umno division chief Jamal Md Yunos who headed the red shirts movement, Najib said he would have intervened had things escalated.
"Jamal is Jamal. He is not someone who will move the leaders, so to speak.
"People just tolerated him, obviously. If things were to go overboard, I would have intervened," he added. - Mkini
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