COMMENT | The disgraced prime minister knows this, continuing to play dumb like the spoiled rich kid that he is.
| The weakness of the Perikatan Nasional government-without-a-people’s-mandate has given birth to a lot of rumours surrounding its future. Even scandal-ridden Najib Abdul Razak’s name is being propped up again as an alternative to Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s leadership, or the lack of it.
In the 2018 general election, they brought their anger back to the kampung to vote against Najib and BN that they saw as drifting away from the people, especially with the 1MDB mega scandal.Umno used to represent social mobility for the Malays but now it is seen as an elitist party. At least until the 1990s, social mobility was the key message of the party for the community.
Since independence, Umno had never contested under its own logo. It was always the symbol of the Alliance and later BN, until the by-elections after 2018. After Mahathir’s retirement, Umno took a wrong turn by turning right politically in 2005. In the last 15 years, it is hard to imagine non-Malays voting for a highly racialised Umno. In competitive Malay-majority mixed seats, having non-Malay support is very crucial.Umno had very strong organisations, especially in rural and semi-urban areas for the longest of time.
Umno’s organisational strength on the ground is not organic and not as effective as an election campaign machinery.Umno’s previous success factor includes being the incumbent government in an authoritarian setting. It was relying on the largess of the government to campaign in elections. It was also able to redraw boundaries in its favours and use the media to its advantages.It is no longer the ruling party under the current Muhyiddin government.
It is a great missed opportunity for Umno to allow people like Mohamad Hassan and Khairy Jamaluddin to rise and cleanse the party of corrupt leaders. All they had to do is apologise to the nation for its past sins and plead for a fresh start. With the new blood and recasting of its messaging, Umno had a chance to win back the people’s support in a free and fair general election.
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