Wan Fahysal, who has led the party’s youth wing since 2020, said his replacement must be as vocal as him and his Umno counterpart, especially in raising national issues.

As Bersatu and Umno are both wooing the same segment, the young Malays, “there is a need for a visionary leader able to take on the government,” said Wan Fayhsal, who is MP for Machang.

“It’s not enough to shoot blindly. You need to have a strategy and become the spokesman for the rakyat,” he said.

Wan Fahysal is relinquishing the youth leadership post because of an age limit. The contest to succeed him at the Bersatu elections next month is between Akmal Zahin Zainal Zahir, the wing’s permanent chairman, and Hilman Idham, the assemblyman for Gombak Setia, Selangor.

Wan Fayhsal said whoever succeeds him must collaborate well with PAS Youth, a partnership which he said led to a solid election machinery that resulted in the opposition winning in Malay majority areas at the previous general election.

He said the Perikatan Nasional Youth machinery that he assembled together with PAS Youth was not only very confident, but there was never any distrust. “To create such a good working relationship needs time and also a person with integrity, a quality which PAS Youth would never have any reservations about.”

Wan Fayhsal said his replacement must be “clean and scandal free” who would thus have no qualms about reprimanding or challenging Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Young Malaysians were not keen on leaders with political baggage and wanted someone with integrity, he said, as problematic leaders would make it difficult for the opposition to retain its core supporters – conservative Malays and Umno supporters who backed PN in protest.

“If we lose the trust of our core supporters because of problematic leaders, we will lose the next general election,” he said.