KUALA LUMPUR, MAY 8 — Almost a year after becoming the Opposition, Umno has not made great strides with achievements of its own, but still relies on Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) mistakes to score points, an Umno senator said today.
In a statement today, Khairul Azwan Harun said that changes since Barisan Nasional’s (BN) embarrassing defeat on May 9 last year have been minimal.
“There are still four years to go. A lot can happen. And unfortunately, we are still depending on the failure of PH for Umno to win back the government; rather than rebranding ourselves to be a significant choice for the rakyat, independent of whether PH does well or not.
“While the partnership with PAS is formidable, it may not be enough to win back Malaysia. Fundamentally, Umno needs to continue restructuring, and get rid of money politics, blind loyalty and extreme opinions. A lot more needs to be done to tackle this.
“As we reach May 9, it’s important to take our foot off the pedal as an Opposition and begin reflecting on our own party’s progress. To be frank, changes since our colossal loss last year have been minimal,” Khairul lamented.
He, however, noted that Umno and BN are performing better as the Opposition than PH ever did, adding that his party does not simply oppose for the sake of it, and has been the “cleaner side” in by-elections, having abided by election rules.
However, Khairul predicted that despite all its problems now, PH will get its act together, and once DAP learns how to appease Malay voters, Umno will be in trouble.
“My predictions are that within the next year, PH will probably get its act together. DAP, for all its stupidity, will eventually learn how to appease the Malay voters. And when that happens, Umno will be in trouble. It will be too late for us. Change must happen now,” he added.
