KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 14 — Umno will be doomed if it fills its supreme council with sycophants unwilling to stand up to its leaders, veteran Tan Sri Annuar Musa said today ahead of the party’s primary elections this weekend.

“The supreme council must live up to its name. Supreme. It must be supreme in everything. It must not have the inferiority complex...it must have leaders who are not afraid to voice out the truth.

“If we have leaders in the council who would only kiss the hands of the president and the deputy president and say yes to everything they say, then Umno is done for,” he told a press conference at MARA’s main office here.

Annuar, who is vying for a post in Umno’s supreme council, also hinted that money politics was rife throughout the campaigning period, saying this would render the party’s reform plan hollow if its leaders continue to engage in vote buying.

“You can change the system but that does not necessarily mean the party will change. Even if there are 150,000 delegates voting the party will never change if it continues to play money politics,” he said.

Following Umno’s dismal performance in the 2008 general election, Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak embarked on a mission to reform the party and weed out corruption by implementing a direct voting system.

Adopting the “electoral college” system that supposedly combines the system used in the United States and United Kingdom, some 150,000 members are now allowed to vote directly for the party’s top leadership.

It has previously used a representational system that gave the voting power to 2,000 central delegates.

Analysts said this made the central delegates powerful and opened the polls to corruption as the small numbers made bribery easy and possible.

Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak hailed the weekend’s smooth junior polls as a sign of the party’s success in carrying out its transformation plan.

Despite his age, Annuar said he is capable of bringing changes to the party if he is elected as a supreme council member.

In the run up to polls, influential former Umno president Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had called on the party to pave way for new blood, warning the present leadership that if their entire team returns uncontested, Malaysians will remain “disgusted” at the party.

Dr Mahathir, who himself led Umno for over two decades during his tenure as prime minister, previously said Umno needs to shed its image as a corrupt party and the best way to do this is by removing the older, entrenched leaders in favour of the unsullied young leaders.

Observers believe, however, Dr Mahathir’s statement were made to bolster his son’s bid for a Umno vice-president spot.

Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir, who is also Kedah mentri besar, is one of the three contenders in the race for a spot as Umno’s vice-presidents while the three incumbents, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal have formed an alliance in a bid to defend their posts.

The other two challengers are party veterans Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad, Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam Commenting on this, Dr Mahathir said he had initially expected more contenders to enter the fray.

Meanwhile 260 candidates are vying for the 25 seats in the supreme council and only 14 incumbents will be defending their posts.