KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 8 — Umno Youth vice chief Shahril Hamdan said the party must dissect it and Barisan Nasional’s (BN) rejection during the 15th general election and not simply carry on with the new political alliance as though nothing happened
In a video posted on Twitter, Shahril said Umno leaders need to differentiate between the party’s relationship with others in the government and politically.
He said that the party cannot afford to take “shortcuts to avoid difficult conversations”.
“We want a high performing government. This is our responsibility to the nation, to the people, to the Agong. The nation also needs to move on. Until when do we need healing? But this moving on does not mean we act ignorant. Moving on doesn’t mean we are happy with our new partners, until we forget that we are in this position today because we only won 30 seats.
“I am confident we, the leaders, can explain the situation. We can get used to the new situation, can justify as to why (we are) with Pakatan Harapan (PH) and others. All that the members want to hear, but what is more important is, can we truly digest properly? What is the basic problem in this party? Only then will we know what we need to change. Otherwise, the 30 seats will be even worse,” he said, adding that BN failed to do a proper post-mortem after its defeat in GE14, when it lost for the first time in history.
Shahril said that Umno and BN had then instead gone through the same process, which was to seek new friends and form new alliances, resulting in Muafakat Nasional with PAS.
He said this has to end now if Umno was to salvage itself, adding that he was worried hearing “simplistic arguments” about Umno’s renewed chances with new political friends.
“This time it can’t happen again. This time it is extra important. We need to do it well because there are only 30 seats left. I too am a little worried because we are already hearing simplistic arguments. We are with PH, we can win non-Malay votes. Same as last GE14, we are with PAS, we add BN’s votes, we add PAS’ votes, we can win 120, 130 seats. Are you sure it’s that simple? Without real change, it will not be that simple. Our count will not be the same as the voters count,” he added.
Shahril said that while Umno has three million members, it was clear not all of them voted for the party and BN.
“We need to ask why, what more voters who are non-members. Our name is Umno — United Malays National Organisation — but even the Malays did not vote for us. We need to ask why,” he added.
Shahril said that he and those like-minded in the party would do their part to contribute towards an in-depth study about Umno and BN’s loss and what changes the people want from Umno.
“We do not want to target anyone. We too have our own failures, I too have failures. But this is a heritage party of our parents. We don’t want to leave it like this. It has already been written, that this is the responsibility of our generation,” he added.
Shahril had made the same call following Umno’s defeat in GE14, adding that Umno’s defeat at the watershed 2018 general election should have been the impetus the party needed to institute reforms.
But as support returns amid political fatigue, he admitted that the reform spark was fading fast.
In an interview with Malay Mail, he stressed that the party cannot continue to rely on favourable circumstances to keep on winning, that Umno needs to rethink its politics totally. This includes shedding its communal appeal and inspiring confidence from an audience beyond its core base.
Shahril lost in his maiden attempt for the Alor Gajah parliamentary seat in GE15. He later relinquished his position as Umno’s information chief and called on party president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to also resign from his post following BN’s disastrous performance in GE15.
He said Zahid, who is also BN chairman, should set an example by taking responsibility for the drubbing.
Ahmad Zahid has since led his party to join the unity government led by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and was appointed deputy prime minister.
The Bagan Datuk MP was pivotal in giving Anwar the necessary parliamentary majority to form the latter’s coalition government after the 15th general election concluded in a hung parliament.
Ahmad Zahid was also given the key rural and regional development portfolio by Anwar.
