People think Umno belongs to warlords, says Youth candidate
PETALING JAYA: A candidate for the Umno Youth chief’s post says there is a need for the party to go back to basics by getting rid of the “warlord” culture and becoming more inclusive.
In an interview with FMT, Wan Agyl Wan Hassan said Umno cannot afford to be elitist, exclusive and living in denial.
“People view Umno as belonging to several people, several warlords. We shouldn’t be shy or afraid to say this because this is the current culture in Umno that has to be changed.
“There is a need for us to attract thinkers, people who really understand issues and are able to resolve them through engagement and discussions with stakeholders, which I believe Umno didn’t really do effectively before this.”
Wan Agyl, who is the Umno Overseas Club chairman, said the results of the general election last month showed that Umno had failed to attract the majority of Malay votes, especially from youths, despite having over three million members.
He also noted that Barisan Nasional was rejected by 93% of Chinese voters. He believed that Umno-BN’s exclusivity and insensitivity to the sentiments of the people had led to a gap between the people and the party.
“Most of the top leadership in the party became leaders in the government so the party was without proper leadership. Because of that, we failed to gauge the people’s sentiments.”
Umno must learn to differentiate between administration and politics if it wanted to become an effective opposition.