In an interview with FMT, Wan Agyl Wan Hassan said Umno cannot afford to be elitist, exclusive and living in denial.
“People view Umno as belonging to several people, several warlords. We shouldn’t be shy or afraid to say this because this is the current culture in Umno that has to be changed.
“There is a need for us to attract thinkers, people who really understand issues and are able to resolve them through engagement and discussions with stakeholders, which I believe Umno didn’t really do effectively before this.”
Wan Agyl, who is the Umno Overseas Club chairman, said the results of the general election last month showed that Umno had failed to attract the majority of Malay votes, especially from youths, despite having over three million members.
He also noted that Barisan Nasional was rejected by 93% of Chinese voters. He believed that Umno-BN’s exclusivity and insensitivity to the sentiments of the people had led to a gap between the people and the party.
“Most of the top leadership in the party became leaders in the government so the party was without proper leadership. Because of that, we failed to gauge the people’s sentiments.”
Umno must learn to differentiate between administration and politics if it wanted to become an effective opposition.
“We should separate administration and politics, regardless of how thin the line is between the two. If we disagree with the ideas of the present government, we shouldn’t just say we disagree but give input for improvement.”
Agyl also said he didn’t believe Umno needed to become a multiracial party as the nature of BN was that it was already a multicultural organisation. What was most important was that even if Umno remained a Malay party, it must fight for the other races.
So, he said, Umno needs to open up the party to those who are young, professionals who want to be part of Umno, and allow openness and freedom of speech even if it leads to disagreements.
“Disagreements are good because they create character and help in finding the best possible solutions.”
He added that if Umno doesn’t change by encouraging intelligent discussions or arguments, or if the party remained exclusive or controlled by warlords who have power and money, it risked becoming irrelevant.
“We have to have more inclusive discussions with the branches and divisions in urban and rural areas; it cannot just be the central leaders.
“We can’t be sitting in the office and imagining the solutions will work. We need to empower the branches and divisions, especially in rural areas,” he said. “If we can’t do that, we will have problems at the next general election.”
Umno’s long-delayed party elections will be held on June 30. Nomination of candidates will close tomorrow.
PH won’t survive, Anwar and Dr M will split, says Umno hopeful