Umno needs rebranding to attract youth
ELECTION: How it uses new gamechanging technology is crucial
DATUK Seri Najib Razak, a stickler for punctuality, arrived on time at a youth conference at the Putra World Trade Centre yesterday and delivered a powerful message to the youths: “You are our future.” The prime minister and Umno president is increasingly looking to the future and banking on the youths, rather than the past, as his party regrouped after a major purge in the past 18 months.
He goes into this week’s Umno general assembly on a much stronger footing, having managed the dissent within his party and keeping a firmer grip on his cabinet and the government.
The mood is expected to be more upbeat than during last year’s caucus amid the strained ties with his sacked deputy president, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, and other top leaders.
Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, who was with Najib at the youth conference, admitted that it had been a tough few years for the party.
“But I am relieved that Umno is not in a situation where it is falling apart,” he said.
As delegates gather for the general assembly, the biggest event in the
country’s political calendar, Najib is expected to dwell on the issue of party loyalty in his closed-door session on Tuesday, and in his policy speech on Thursday.
He will also denounce foreign intervention to undermine his government. These interventions come in the form of the foreign media, foreign funding and foreign powers.
He will also stress the fact that the Barisan Nasional government, led by Umno, will be the one leading Malaysia as a developed nation in 2020 and beyond.
He will also rally his Umno troops ahead of the 14th General Election, widely expected to be called next year, although there are some fresh views within the party that Najib should delay it to 2018.
Najib’s immediate tasks include steering the Malaysian economy out of any global headwinds, stabilising the ringgit and managing bread and butter issues.
He will also have to stave off the challenge from the disparate opposition bloc, now being spearheaded
by his former boss, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
In its 70-year history, Umno has gone through many internal and external challenges, from Datuk Onn Jaafar leaving Umno, to some exreligious bureau leaders leaving to form Pas, and the Team A vs Team B fight and the 1998 Reformasi era.
In short, Umno endured many challenges and survived.
But there are also criticisms within and outside the party on how it plans to end the age-old tradition of political patronage and warlordism.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, an Umno vice-president carrying out the duties of deputy president, conceded that warlordism is an issue within Umno.
Perhaps the process of transition and succession planning needs to be expedited.
A majority of cabinet ministers, menteris besar and division chiefs are in their 50s or 60s.
Even one top Umno leader quipped that it would be easier to reshuffle the cabinet if there are ministers willing to step aside.
Umno also has to reinvent and rebrand itself to make it more appealing to the young, who form almost 40 per cent of total voters in the next general election.
Many of these young people do not share the same affection for Umno as their parents. They take for granted that the Umno government provides all their needs and wants.
Umno has often prided itself as being able to transform and adapt to changing times as proof of its staying power.
Its durability will come under scrutiny in the next general election. How it mobilises new game-changing technology and reaches out to the young will determine how well the party will do in the coming electoral test.
Many of these young people do not share the same affection for Umno as their parents. They take for granted that the Umno government provides all their needs and wants.