In his speech to delegates at the opening of the Wanita, Pemuda and Puteri congress at the party’s general assembly here, Mohamad, popularly known as Tok Mat, blamed money politics for “bringing Umno to its current level”.

“It has not only caused Umno to lose (in GE15), but it has also made our party weaker and less resilient,” he said.

“To all Umno members… Understand that money politics is ugly, disgusting and vile… for our religion, our customs and our practices.

“Umno is only for those who are clean… and love their nation. We must kill money politics before money politics kills Umno.”

Umno won 26 seats at the Nov 19 polls, with MCA claiming two and MIC and PBRS each securing one.

BN’s 30 seats was its worst election performance ever. By comparison, Pakatan Harapan won 82 seats while Perikatan Nasional took 74 seats.

Malaysia’s DNA is moderation

Touching on Umno’s role in the formation of the unity government, Mohamad said there was a need to return Malaysia to the path of moderation.

“Seeing how issues of race and religion have become capital to be used by certain political parties to the extreme, Malaysia must return to ‘centrism’,” he said.

“We cannot let the future of Malaysia be shaped by ‘rightists’ or ‘leftists’. Malaysia’s DNA is moderation.”

We are live on Telegram, subscribe here for breaking news and the latest announcements.