‘Chumminess’ with PH will kill Umno, say insiders

 

Several Umno grassroots leaders say the party’s association with DAP is damaging.

PETALING JAYA: Several Umno grassroots leaders have voiced concern that the party will lose its relevance to Malay voters if it continues being seen as “chummy” with Pakatan Harapan (PH).

The leaders, who declined to be named, said Umno should treat PH the way it treated Perikatan Nasional (PN) during the administrations of Muhyiddin Yassin and Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

“It is fine to work with PH in the government, at the federal level, but we shouldn’t go to the extent of attending their conventions or working together in polls,” a youth leader told FMT.

“We feel like Umno is no longer under Barisan Nasional but under PH.”

The leader said the association with DAP was especially damaging considering everything Umno had said about the party for decades.

“If I had to put myself in a Malay voter’s shoes, I would not vote for Umno,” he said, commenting on the party’s dwindling fortunes since it began working with PH in the aftermath of the 15th general election (GE15).

In the six state elections after GE15, Umno won only 19 of the 108 seats it contested.

A division leader from Johor said although PH had won the Pulai and Simpang Jeram by-elections in the state, Umno grassroots members were not keen on helping PH candidates campaign.

“As division leaders, we understand the sentiment of voters more than the top leadership.

“Our job is to educate the voters on why Umno is a better option than the rest but when the president decided Umno would campaign for PH, it made things worse.

“Over the decades we have been telling voters that we are the voice for Malays, not PH, but when we are told to work together, how do you expect us to convince the voters?” he said.

He said this was why PN’s support among the Malays had grown within a short period.

The leader said Umno needed to think of a long-term plan to regain support, and that the best way to do this was to be in the opposition.

“The way we are going now, especially by holding hands with DAP, this party will be doomed in the next general election,” he said.

Another leader from Pahang also said that continued cooperation with PH outside of government affairs would see Umno bleed support.

“The Kemaman by-election was a prime example where our votes dropped compared to GE15,” the leader added.

In the Kemaman by-election this month, PN’s Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar polled 64,998 votes compared to BN’s Raja Affandi Raja Noor, who received only 27,778 votes.

In GE15, PN candidate Che Alias Hamid won the seat with 65,714 votes while BN’s Ahmad Said garnered 38,535 votes. - FMT