Bung Moktar: We need to accept this is the worst loss in Umno’s history
KUALA LUMPUR: Umno members must accept the 15th general election results that saw the party and the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition it leads limp home behind its rivals, its Sabah chief Datuk Bung Moktar Radin said yesterday.
Bung, who is also Sabah deputy chief minister, added that it was Umno’s worst loss in history and that the party must now find a pragmatic way to move forward.
“It’s OK. We had offered national stability and prosperity but the people have rejected it, so we must now strive in another direction,” he told reporters when exiting the Umno supreme council meeting at the Umno headquarters here.
Just minutes earlier, Umno chief Tan Sri Noh Omar announced his resignation as Selangor Umno chief, citing a loss of faith in party president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s leadership as his reason.
Bung commented on the matter saying that every party will have to go through ‘transformations’ but stressed that Umno and BN will continue to serve the nation.
He also said that every Umno leader has to be responsible for the party’s disastrous outing, as it was the result of a group ‘political decision’.
On internal calls for Ahmad Zahid to resign, he said the situation had not reached a level where Ahmad Zahid had to leave the post.
“If resign, then we all have to resign including me,” he added.
Bung managed to keep his Kinabatangan seat with a majority of 4,330 votes over his closest rival from Warisan Mazliwati Abdul Malek.
Others seasoned Umno leaders who also survived were Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan who won Rembau in Negri Sembilan, and Datuk Seri Azalina Said Othman who retained Pengerang in Johor.