Speaking to FMT, Mohd Azizuddin Mohamad of Universiti Utara Malaysia said Umno members should push for the nomination of such people as former international trade and industry minister Mustapa Mohamed and former second finance minister Johari Abdul Ghani.
Both Mustapa and Johari are Umno divisional chiefs. Mustapa heads the Jeli division and Johari the Titiwangsa division.
Azizuddin described Mustapa as “clean and intelligent” and Johari as a “credible” corporate figure. He noted that neither had been associated with any scandal and said they deserved high positions in Umno.
He said the election of such leaders would go a long way towards discouraging the defection of Umno members to parties in power, particularly PPBM.
He cautioned Umno members against playing the race or religious card in campaigning for positions, saying the party would have to show its commitment to democracy if it were to remain relevant. That remark came as a reaction to Pasir Salak MP Tajuddin Abdul Rahman’s announcement that he was eyeing a “top position” in Umno.
Sinar Harian recently quoted Tajuddin as saying that he wanted to return Umno to its former glory. The paper also said he called for cooperation between Umno and PAS in a new political bloc that would protect Malay interests.
Azizuddin said Umno needed to rebrand itself to be seen as relevant to Malays, non-Malays and the nation’s youths. He noted the observation of many pundits that youths favoured Pakatan Harapan in the recent general election.
He also said the party’s current leaders, including acting president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, should allow members to contest in the party polls without interference.
“Zahid may want to be president of Umno, but he needs to allow others to contest against him,” he said. “He needs to show the party is democratic. The problem with the last Umno election was that it was perceived as undemocratic.”