In a Facebook post, Hasni shared some of his comments in a forum organised by Singapore-based ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute recently.

“Umno is known as Malaysia’s ‘grand old party’, specifically for the Malays.

“Now, Umno is no longer ‘grand’ but instead an ‘old’ party that, if it continues to hallucinate in reforming itself and fails to provide clarity of conviction, it will find it hard to regain the trust of the Malays in future,” he said.

Hasni added that the people must see hope in the party’s leadership and that it should consider freedom of speech and constructive criticism sources of strength, not a threat or sign of weakness.

Hasni, the Simpang Renggam MP, said that Umno and BN should continue supporting the unity government for stability, because the state elections are nearing.

He said that even if Umno does not do well at the polls, people should not consider this a reflection of the unity government or that it was unstable.

“Instead, it is Umno’s leadership that will be faced with heavy scrutiny,” Hasni added.

Umno has been dealing with growing calls for reform following its drubbing at the general election (GE15) last year, in which the party won a mere 26 parliamentary seats, a historic low for the party.

Umno also surrendered control of Perlis to Perikatan Nasional, led by its splinter party Bersatu and PAS.

Hasni said that it was a “missed opportunity” that the Malaysia Madani concept touted by the unity government does not come with much needed economic and social directions for Malaysia in resolving long-standing structural economic issues, such as a weakening ringgit, bloated subsidies, and import bills that the government has at hand.

Earlier this month, economy minister Rafizi Ramli said that the government will launch a Madani economic narrative in August, which will focus on creating a sustainable high-value economy, improving social security coverage, and reforming the labour market to face economic structural challenges.