KUALA LUMPUR, July 4 — Fresh from its party elections held on Saturday, Umno’s top leaders are set to meet today in what will likely be its last supreme council meeting before the next Parliament session convenes on July 16.
It will be the first Parliament session since Umno and Barisan Nasional’s historic defeat in GE14 at the hands of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, and will also be the first session where the Malay nationalist party finds itself as a member of the federal opposition, under the leadership of Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Malay Mail understands that a chief concern among some Umno supreme council members is the ability of the new leadership to ensure all of its members close ranks as quickly as possible; and the present the party as a credible Opposition when Parliament convenes.
Alliance with PAS; strength in numbers
Although Umno has flirted with this idea before, working together with PAS in Parliament will be a possibility, now that the former is left with just 51 MPs — following the exit of Masjid Tanah MP Datuk Mas Ermieyati, Bukit Gantang MP Datuk Syed Abu Hussin Hafiz Syed Abdul Fasal, and Bagan Serai MP Datuk Noor Azmi Ghazali.
“We may discuss Umno and PAS cooperation in the upcoming parliamentary session in our first supreme council meeting this Wednesday. This is important so that our role to provide a ‘check and balance’ of the PH government is more effective, especially on common issues to both Umno and PAS.
“There is also a need to coordinate between all the Opposition parties in Parliament so that no issue close to the people is left unattended,” Umno supreme council member and former federal minister Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan told Malay Mail when contacted.
Another Umno supreme council member, Datuk Lokman Noor Adam said that the issue of cooperation between the two parties will be discussed, and that the party already has an informal understanding with PAS on issues relating to Malay rights and Islam.
“I have been made to understand that at this moment, we have a mutual understanding between Umno and PAS that we will be together in issues related to race, Rulers and religion,” he told Malay Mail.
Zahid, and the role of Opposition Leader
Today’s meeting will be crucial for Umno as its leadership will have to decide on whether their newly-elected president Zahid should be Opposition Leader in Parliament.
It is understood that the party is divided about this; as some believe that Zahid should focus on rebuilding the party and give up the post to another Umno MP.
By convention, Umno will get to decide on who becomes Opposition Leader as it still has 51 MPs. PAS has 13, MIC and MCA, while two other Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties, have three MPs between them.
Newly formed state coalition Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) has 19 MPs.
Zahid has said that a pre-council meeting between Umno, PAS and Opposition MPs is expected to be held sometime within the next two weeks.
“Tomorrow’s meeting, we will decide on who should be Opposition Leader. We can consider someone else taking over because I don’t think Datuk Seri Zahid is very keen to take that position, he may or may not.
“For me, it can anyone. YB Asyraf has even suggested Khairy Jamaluddin,” Lokman said yesterday, referring to Umno Youth chief Datuk Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki, and the Rembau MP who lost in his bid for party presidency over the weekend.
Umno leaders will be looking to Zahid for a clear, decisive leadership as well a detailed plan to “reform” Umno.
“I am sure the new president will present his transformation agenda to the council soon. I look forward to hear them. I want to support institutionalised reform agenda for the party which will bring back the support of the people,” Abdul Rahman said.
Challenges ahead
But for Umno, two main challenges which the party must address are adjusting to its role as an opposition party as well as putting an end to “money politics” and its public perception, which has taken a beating from the ongoing investigations involving its former president Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
“The biggest challenge for all our MPs is to get themselves used to becoming the Opposition and the fact that they are no longer government MPs. The way they think and react towards things being discussed in Parliament has to be different...they have got to change their mindset,” said Lokman.
But the Umno leader believes that his party has an advantage as many of the MPs have at one time or another been a minister or deputy minister in the past.
“I believe there will be a job delegation between all the MPs, and for maybe each one of them to concentrate on a ministry, a ‘shadow Cabinet’ if you will.
“Umno MPs have the upper hand, as I believe Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is having great difficulties because only Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is the experienced Cabinet member in Dr Mahathir’s administration,” he added, referring to the former deputy prime minister.
Lokman feels that Umno should recalibrate its efforts and resources in training its members to tackle or respond to issues played up by Pakatan Harapan on social media.
“That’s how we lost, our failure to tackle issues raised by Pakatan Harapan in social media.”
He also believes that while the issue of money politics is still prevalent within Umno, it is a problem which is currently being addressed.
“I’ll admit, there are still a small number of members and leaders which have this kind of problem, still involved in money politics.
“We need to face that this thing really happened but compared to previous elections it was not so bad...none of the leaders who practice money politics were elected in the party elections this time,” Lokman said.
On Saturday, Malay Mail reported that money politics is still influencing the party’s internal election.
Zahid was elected as the new Umno president with a plurality of 93 votes out of the total 191 party division chiefs.
Khairy was second with 51 votes, while Gua Musang Umno division chief Tan Sri Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah received 23 votes.
