Umno Needs A ‘Cure’ – Ku Li

(Bernama) – Umno veteran leader Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah says the party has to undergo a clean-up and renewal to redeem its integrity which seems to be getting detached from its struggle.

The 81-year-old Umno Gua Musang Division chief, who is contesting the party presidency on June 30, said the party must give priority to changing its leadership style as Umno leaders had been labelled by the people as “arrogant, too elitist and difficult to make appointments with”.

Saying that he would highlight these should he be elected as the Umno president, Tengku Razaleigh, who is fondly known as Ku Li, said such an approach could be the “cure” with regard to the people’s perception of the party.

“We want to ensure that the party’s policies can cure Umno, particularly in the aspect of integrity which was previously viewed as less favourable by society.“(Umno leaders and members must) try to behave, not engage in things disliked by the people, such as corruption and so on,” he said to reporters after a meet-and-greet session with Selangor Umno leaders and representatives here last night.

Besides Tengku Razaleigh; Umno acting president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi; Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin; Umno Bandar Tun Razak Division member Mohamed Iqbal Maricair and Umno Iskandar Puteri Division member Mohd Yusof Musa @ Jamaluddin are contesting the No. 1 post.

Asked whether the “clean-up” in Umno should also involve a change of positions, Tengku Razaleigh said it was up to the division and branch delegates as he was now convinced that the grassroots were well aware of the rabble-rousers in the party.

In fact, he said the delegates should be wise enough to determine who had been the rabble-rousers so as to ensure the survival of the party.

Asked how long it would take for Umno to recover following the Barisan Nasional defeat in the 14th General Election, Tengku Razaleigh, who was the finance minister from 1976 to 1984, said the road to recovery would depend on the people’s response to the members’ activities.