KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 — Umno Youth delegate Dr Muhammad Akmal Salleh today said that if the party polls are held before the 15th General Election (GE15), 114 out of 190 Umno division youth chiefs will become unavailable due to age restrictions.
He said the number does not include other positions in youth leadership that have the experience and knowledge of the party’s machinery which will be key during GE15.
“Imagine, the Youth Chief of this Division all took office when we were all losing. I myself in Jasin, for the first time, won without contesting.
“Nobody wanted to be a leader at that time. The Youth leader who previously jumped the party was because he felt that Umno had lost,” he said this morning duringthe debate on presidential policy speech for the 2021 Annual General Assembly.
Dr Muhammad Akmal said the loss of leadership will spell doom for the party as the Youths are usually the ones who move the election, campaign and works machinery on the ground.
“This is a team built since 2018 and full of experience and training, whose strength has been proven in the Melaka and Johor State Elections (PRN).
“If we lose 60 per cent (of strength), the Youth machinery willbe paralyzed. Not to say that if there is an election, new people are not good.
“But we have to train again. Do we have time to train them again to be the party machinery (before GE15), “he said.
The Youth delegates are presenting the motion to propose an amendment to the party’s constitution to allow party elections to only be held after each general election.
In a related matter, Dr Muhammad Akmal also apologised publicly to Umno President, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi after there was a misunderstanding between the two of them.
The Melaka state exco was chastised after referring to Ahmad Zahid as a ‘political dinosaur’ in a Facebook post in December last year, calling for resignation of old leaders to make way for youth.
“Honestly, the post has nothing to do with the president, but I can understand that the president was heartbroken by the post even though the post was general, in fact, I am not referring to anyone, I apologise for it,” he said.
