‘UMNO WAS BORN A MALAY, LET’S KEEP IT THAT WAY’: KU LI AGAINST OPENING PARTY DOORS TO OTHER RACES – BUT TACTICALLY, HE MAY NOT BE WRONG

TENGKU Razaleigh Tengku Hamzah believes that Umno should remain a Malay party, disagreeing with suggestions that its membership be opened to other races.

The veteran Umno leader said there is strong sentiment on the ground that the party keep its Malay identity politics.

“We can add one or two non-Malays as members, like some parties have done, and label it as multiracial.

“But the face is still not multiracial. I can say I’m multiracial because I used to have a non-Malay wife, but I’m not multiracial in that sense,” he told a press conference attended by selected media in Kuala Lumpur today.

The presser was called after sections of the lynchpin Barisan Nasional party asked him to contest the position of president in the upcoming party polls.

The former finance minister said the issue facing Umno now is not about whether to open its membership to other races, as the party was born a Malay one.

“It was born like that. Umno was formed by a gathering of Malay organisations in 1946 because of the threat to the sovereignty of the country.”  

He said given this, Umno should remain that way.

Ku Li against opening Umno to non-Malays

Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Tengku Hamzah disagrees with the idea of opening up Umno to non-Malays, as has been suggested by some of its leaders following BN’s devastating defeat in the recent general election.

Tengku Razaleigh insisted that the sentiment on the ground dictates that Umno be kept an exclusively Malay party.

“You can add one or two non-Malays, like some parties have done, and label them as multiracial parties. But the face is still not multiracial.

“I can say I am a multiracial, because I used to have a non-Malay wife, but I am not multiracial in that (the party) sense,” he said at a press conference at his office in Kuala Lumpur today.

Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin had initially mooted the idea of opening up the party up to all Malaysians, saying that the heavy polls defeat should force a rethink of its raison d’être.

Other party leadership to have called for Umno to open its doors to other races include Pahang Umno chief Adnan Yaakob, Johor opposition leader Hasni Mohammad and Umno Supreme Council member Nazri Aziz.

Tengku Razaleigh, a member of Umno for over 60 years, said such a move would go against the reason Umno was set up in the first place.

“It was born like that. Umno was formed by the gathering of Malay organisations in 1946 because of the threat to the sovereignty of the country,” he said.

Umno, Tengku Razaleigh added, were heroes for leading the fight against British colonialists.

He also pointed out that even Umno founder Onn Jaafar, who first brought up the idea of making the party multiracial just five years after its establishment, has to leave.

Coincidentally, also present during the press conference was Onn’s great-grandson Onn Hafiz Ghazi (photo).

Onn Hafiz is Sembrong Umno youth chief and Layang-Layang assemblyperson in Johor. – MKINI

THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT / MKINI