SEREMBAN, Dec 14 — Umno needs principled and moral leadership in its efforts to rebuild the party, said its deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.
He said Umno would continue to be weak if its leaders did not have these traits.
“It will only recover if we can find leaders who believe that the real fight is the fight to hold on to our principles. The time has come to find those who still believe in Umno’s ideology, that is to champion centrist politics that will benefit Malays without neglecting the interests of other Malaysians.
“Only those who have faith in this ideology and embrace this thinking will be able to provide an authoritative leadership for a progressive Malay race and Malaysia,” he said in a statement here today after it was announced that six more members of Parliament had quit Umno.
Mohamed described their action as “very sad”.
“This is politics... each has his own considerations and plans and we must respect them. There can be no coercion in any struggle and loyalty is not something we can demand from anyone.
“But one thing which we must have in our struggle is principles. A struggle without principles is one that is fragile and definitely not sustainable,” he said. — Bernama
