He said the sentiment on the ground was strong, and the party had been born out of Malay nationalism.
“Umno was formed by the gathering of Malay organisations in 1946 because of the threat to the sovereignty of the country,” he said in a reference to British colonial plans to abolish the federation and form a Malayan Union.
“That’s when all the Malay bodies assembled here in Kuala Lumpur and decided they should band together and form one Malay party. Umno came around and went against the colonial power, “they were our heroes”.
Adding one or two non-Malays as members, like some parties have done, would not change Umno’s face, Tengku Razaleigh, who is popularly known as Ku Li, said.
“I can say I am multiracial because I used to have a non-Malay wife, but I am not multiracial in that sense,” he said at his residence today.
He said Umno’s first president Onn Jaafar left the party when his proposal to open up Umno to all was not accepted. “It was untenable for him to continue,” he said.
Umno was deregistered during the premiership of Mahathir Mohamad after supporters of Tengku Razaleigh brought a suit against the party.
Tengku Razaleigh went into the opposition and formed the Semangat 46 party.
After an unsucessful outing, he returned to Umno, which had been revived by Mahathir as Pertubuhan Melayu Bersatu Malaysia (Baru), but retaining its English name.