Umno Assembly Wrap Up Zahid Strengthens Hold On Party

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The 2022 Umno general assembly concluded this evening with party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and his deputy Mohamad Hasan emerging as the clear winners.
Instead of lynching Zahid and Mohamad (above left and right) for the party’s defeat in the recent general election, delegates to the assembly gave a stronger footing to their top two leaders by voting for a resolution to leave their positions uncontested in the upcoming Umno election.
By making the resolution, Umno delegates staved off any attempt by leaders aligned with Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin from taking over party leadership, at least in the near future.
There were pushbacks from some chapters in the party, namely Johor and Kuala Lumpur, which called for the contest to be open, but this did not get much traction from the others.
It was learned that only a handful of senior Umno leaders did not stand up when the assembly called for a vote for the motion to leave Zahid and Mohamad’s posts uncontested, and this was met with jeers from delegates.
Among them who were said to have voted against it was party vice-president and former prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who was among Umno leaders known to have a slant towards Muhyiddin instead of Zahid.
Former Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, who was believed to have the intention to challenge Zahid in the party polls again, also made a last-minute attempt to stop the resolution.
In a video posted on social media, Khairy called delegates not to vote for the motion and made an allegation that there was an attempt to bring in phantom voters to support the motion. But this also proved to be futile.
The biggest highlight and clearest message from the four-day assembly was this - Umno ranks no longer welcome pro-Perikatan Nasional (PN) influence in the party.
Debates of the party president’s policy speech saw delegates putting the blame of Umno and BN’s dismal election performance on groups within the party that sided with Muhyiddin-led PN.
Outsiders and betrayers
Party veterans also called for delegates not to allow themselves to be used by “outsiders” to topple Zahid by letting his presidency be challenged.
“The party veterans and I are upset because we do not want to be used by outsiders. I will be honest here, our party president is disliked by people outside.
“I am not talking about the CIA or KGB. What I mean is people outside Umno, who have been trying to destroy Umno. These outsiders are using people within our party to bring down Zahid,” said Mustapha Yaakub, who represented the Umno Veterans Club, in his debate of the president’s policy speech.
There were also calls for cleaning up of supposed “traitors” from the party ranks, who were said to have betrayed Umno.
Kedah Umno delegate Nor Saidi Nanyan suggested in his speech that it is time for Umno leadership to clear the party of traitors.
“GE15 once again saw many from within Umno betray the party. Thus, Kedah Umno proposes that the party conduct a cleaning-up exercise as soon as possible.
“What is the point of having many members if they are not loyal to the cause? It is better to just have a small number but made of those who are loyal and won’t turn their back on us,” he said.
GE15 retrospection
Kelantan Umno representative Zawawi Othman, meanwhile, blamed the poor election results on the timing of the polls.
He said it was a mistake not to call the 15th general election much earlier when PN and Pakatan Harapan were weak and unprepared.
According to the delegate, Umno was also punished because of the failure of the previous administration to control the price of goods and a shortage of chicken eggs, which had irked the rakyat.
“We made a mistake because we should have held an election earlier… We held an election when the price of chicken had gone up... the price of goods had gone up.
“We held the general election when there were ‘no eggs’ and that’s why we lost,” he said.
Moving forward
In setting the tune for Umno’s direction for the upcoming six state elections and shoring up support for the party, Zahid in his winding-up speech announced a list of initiatives.
These include forming a religious branch called the Ulama Council, where he appointed Dusuki Ahmad as its first chairperson.
He also announced election coordinators for the six states from among senior Umno leaders, namely Mohamad (Negeri Sembilan), vice-president Mahdzir Khalid (Kedah), vice-president Khaled Nordin (Terengganu), BN secretary-general Zambry Kadir (Kelantan), Azalina Othman Said (Penang), and Tengku Zafrul Aziz (Selangor).
Umno vice-president and former prime minister Ismail Sabri YaakobThe list left out Ismail Sabri, who is one of the party’s three vice presidents.
Mohamad, meanwhile, called for party members to give Umno a chance to explore new political dynamics after it had to cooperate with Umno’s arch-enemy, Pakatan Harapan.
In his winding-up speech, he reminded Umno members the party lost the recent general election and its leadership was doing all they could to ensure the party's survival.
“Whatever the party leadership does, it is to ensure we start preparing for the 16th general election. This is important.
“So, give us a chance to manage the party, to slowly move forward,” he said.
Mohamad, who is the defence minister, also urged party delegates to immediately start working and rebuild the party after they return to their respective constituencies. - Mkini

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