KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 16 — Umno will form a special “Rumah Bangsa” unity committee to facilitate the return of former members, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today when declaring that the party’s doors “will always remain wide open.”

The move, aimed at reuniting those who have left or become estranged from the party, received the vocal and unanimous approval of delegates at the Umno General Assembly 2025, who rose to their feet to support the proposal.

In his policy speech, the Umno said the new committee would be tasked with receiving applications for re-entry from any individual or group, whether on a personal basis or en bloc.

“For this reason, the doors of this Rumah Bangsa (House of the Nation) will always remain wide open. This is where we were born, where we were raised.

“It is here, too, that we forged the meaning of struggle,” Zahid said.

He framed the initiative as a homecoming, positioning Umno as a political home for those who had “lost their way or fallen along the political journey.”

“Umno is a home for all to reunite — at times when some have lost their way, at times when some have fallen.

“Come back, come back,” he said, invoking the proverb that those who stray should return to the beginning.

Most of the country’s Malay-Muslim based political parties can trace their origins back to Umno, including Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia and PAS.