Penampang Umno chief John Ambrose said critics should not be too hard on delegates whose fiery speeches might have been misinterpreted as being borderline racist or inciting racism.
“Some people, including party members, forget that Umno is not limited to Malays and Muslims only. When Umno entered Sabah, the party’s constitution was changed to accommodate non-Muslim bumiputeras in Sabah like me.
“I think some of our members there (in Peninsular Malaysia) are not aware of the change in the party’s constitution. We cannot blame them for this,” he told FMT.
Ambrose drew attention to the speech by Umno president Najib Razak in his policy address at the assembly where Najib said Umno had never been a racist party.
Najib had said that non-Malays, especially the Chinese and some of the Indians, had been misled into believing the party was racist.
Umno came into Sabah in 1991 through the now-defunct United Sabah National Organisation (Usno), a multiracial party with a Muslim majority.
Ambrose said in order to accommodate the non-Muslims in Usno to make the transition into Umno, the then Umno president Dr Mahathir Mohamad made the change in the party’s constitution.
According to Ambrose, Sabah Umno’s membership stands at more than 500,000, which he said is the highest of any state in the country.
“It is true, when the party was first formed in 1946, its membership was only for Malays and Muslims. But now, it is different,” he said.
He added that more than 30% of Sabah Umno members are from the Kadazandusun Murut community and a large number of them are non-Muslims.
Ambrose, who is a Christian, said more than 70% of Umno members in his Penampang division were non-Muslims.
“My division is not unique. All over Sabah, it’s like that. In Tenom under Rubin Balang and Ranau under Masidi Manjun, the majority of Umno members are non-Malays and non-Muslims,” he said.
“When Pandikar Amin Mulia dissolved Parti Angkatan Keadilan Rakyat (Akar), then a BN component party, Mahathir said party members could join any party, including Umno.
“Akar was a multiracial party, which included Chinese. Consequently, in Sabah, we also have Chinese being Umno members. In my division, we have a few such cases,” he said.
As further proof of Umno’s openness to other races, Ambrose pointed out that Ronald Kiandee, who is a non-Muslim Umno member, had been appointed deputy Dewan Rakyat speaker.
The problem, he said was that there were some members who refused to update themselves or educate themselves about the party.
“All one needs to do is to listen to what Najib had to say about the party’s diversity and how the party had dealt fairly with other races all these years,” he said.