Show Umno is party of the future — Khairy

KUALA LUMPUR: Umno needs to be portrayed as a party of the future so that the people, particularly today’s young generation, would continue to give their mandate to the party, the main pillar of Barisan Nasional (BN), said its Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin.

The Youth and Sports Minister said this matter was critical as the upcoming 14th general election would be the most critical compared to the previous elections, and could determine the destiny of the race and nation.

Khairy said to ensure Umno is a party of the future, certain requirements must be met including making new offers through BN’s GE14 manifesto that could satisfy the tastes and needs of young people in this country.

“Let the offers give them the confidence that Umno and BN understand their concerns and grouses. Let these offers shape a better future for them, a future that generates highincome jobs for them.

“Let these offers not neglect the rural youth who may not be able to go to university or not yet ready to grab opportunities in the digital economy, besides providing enough housing and so on,” he said in winding up the debate on the last day of the general assembly, here, yesterday.

To supplement the efforts to revitalise Umno, Khairy repeated his hope of seeing a diversity of candidates fielded in GE14, with more opportunities given to candidates from the Wanita, Youth and Puteri Umno wings.

“We need diversity of candidates so that the party is seen as contemporary. Diversity means there are candidates from the senior group but adding more women candidates, young candidates and even include candidates who may not be from the party hierarchy.

“Let our party be seen as fresh and contemporary,” he said.

Khairy said Umno Youth, however, pledged to accept whatever decision made by party president Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak as what was most important was ensuring victory for Umno and BN.

He said in contrast to the opposition, Najib had been way more far-sighted to the extent that he had mooted the National Transformation 2050 (TN50) plan, as a step to preparing the country in facing the problems and challenges of the future.

“Alhamdulillah (praise be to God), through TN50, the party president has managed to reflect the current government as a government of the future. This is what we should be doing now.

“Umno’s contributions to achieving independence for the country and in the postindependence days are known by the general public. But for the young generation, it’s not enough for us to just remind them of old deeds (by past leaders). They want to know whether Umno is a party of and for the future,” he said. - Bernama