‘Battle’ looms in Umno after loss of power in historic GE14

BANGKOK: Umno, the backbone of defeated Barisan Nasional (BN) will be staring at some “serious battle” involving its leaders following the historic 14th General Election (GE14), which saw the coalition losing it six-decade grip on power.

The looming battle, as predicted by an observer on Malaysian politics, Bridget Welsh, could be centred on finding the best ways to revive the 72-year-old Malay party after the electorate handed its worst defeat in history.

“It will be (Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad) Zahid Hamidi against Khairy Jamaluddin and (Datuk Seri) Hishammuddin (Hussein), between the older and younger generations in the party. There will be some serious battle in Umno,” said the Associate Professor of Political Science at John Cabot University in Rome.

She was speaking during a panel discussion on the aftermath of the GE14 organised by the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT) here last night.

According to her, GE14 showed that voters from the younger generation were dominant and vital in ensuring the Pakatan Harapan (PH), led by the 92-yearold former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, swept into power.

Days after leading PH to victory, Dr Mahathir was sworn in as Malaysia’s seventh prime minister.

Following BN’s stunning defeat, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak stepped down from being Umno president, handing the post to his deputy, Ahmad Zahid who will serve as the party’s acting president until the next party election.

Hishammuddin, who is also Najib’s cousin will take over as the party’s acting deputy president.

Welsh, who in 2016 published a book titled ‘The End of Umno. Essays on Malaysia’s Dominant Party’, also served a doomsday assessment on the future of BN’s two main component parties, the Chinese-based MCA and the Indian-based MIC, post May 9 election day.