PETALING JAYA: A political analyst believes Umno grassroot members are likely to ignore party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s calls for Umno to be more progressive.
Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid of Universiti Sains Malaysia said Zahid’s statement last Thursday was just political rhetoric that was not supported by any of his actions.
He said Umno was still finding it difficult to take on the reform agenda espoused by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
Fauzi said the party’s decision to seek a pardon for Najib Razak, a former prime minister and former Umno president, had shown that the party had not yet adapted to Anwar’s reform values.
Although Zahid’s call for Umno to be more progressive will fall on deaf ears among members, they will continue to back him out of a sense of loyalty.
“His statement is merely just political rhetoric as it is not supported by any proper implementation. The party’s grassroot members and the ordinary people would not be influenced by his statement,” Fauzi told FMT.
He said it was ironic that Zahid had made such a call because the party chief had silenced his critics within the party, such as former Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin.
Khairy was among a group of Umno leaders who were expelled or suspended from the party after the general election in November 2022.
Zahid’s clean slate
Another political analyst, Azmi Hassan of Akademi Nusantara, said the decision to silence his critics may provide Zahid with a chance to rebuild the party without any internal interference.
“It can be said that Zahid is starting with a clean slate,” he said.
With the internal tussle in Umno now minimised, Azmi said Zahid now had the opportunity to fulfil what he said last Thursday.
“Thus he must be given a chance because he has the widest opportunity, as the party president and deputy prime minister, to implement what he said.” - FMT
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